Scott Parker on 'brilliant' CJ Egan-Riley, Burnley’s imperious defence and change in ‘structure’

The 21-year-old was Burnley’s standout performer as they kept yet another clean sheet, their eighth of the campaign already, during Thursday night’s goalless draw at The Hawthorns.

The former Manchester City youth graduate was well down the pecking order in the centre-back department at the start of the season, but since Joe Worrall’s injury he’s excelled alongside Maxime Esteve.

“CJ was brilliant,” Parker said after Thursday night’s stalemate. “Both with the ball in possession, he was brilliant with that. We changed it around a little bit with our structure but he was brilliant, he allowed us to mix our game up.

“When it was time to play and take the sting out of the game, we did that very well with Browny [Josh Brownhill] and Josh Cullen giving us real control.

“Jeremy [Sarmiento], Luca [Koleosho], Jaidon [Anthony] on the top line as well, we had a threat and we mixed our game up very well, so I was pleased.”

Burnley have shipped just six goals in 14 games so far this season, the best defensive record of any Championship side.

It’s at the other end of the pitch where they’ve struggled though, scoring just eight times in their last 12 games.

They did look more potent at The Hawthorns, however, thanks to a slight change of structure which also saw Jeremy Sarmiento deployed as a number 10 and Luca Koleosho revert back to his favoured left wing.

“We’ve been looking at loads of stuff, but with the general structure we’ve been trying to see things in different ways,” Parker added. “How can we keep improving? How can we fit people in?

“I always say it, it’s a new team so we’re just trying to develop those things to make us the team we want us to be and get the best out of certain individuals.

“We will keep touching on that and keep working.”