Manager Sean Dyche and Scott Arfield have both given their thoughts following a fourmidable performance against Charlton Athletic at the weekend.
With Dyche looking to see Burnley get back to winning ways after recent draws and hiccups, he couldn’t have been more pleased with the overall performance from the lads or the clinical nature they showed in front of the net with Arfield himself getting a brace on the day, Andre Gray grabbing his tenth of the season and Sam Vokes also getting himself on the scoresheet.
Speaking to the Official Site in his post game press conference, a pleased gaffer explained.
‘I am really pleased. I`ve not been too unhappy even though it`s been a tough little spell. There`s a big thing in football called perception and it`s my job to see through all the noise. If you asked anyone about Brighton, I guarantee people would say what a fantastic run they have been on ahead of today. But in the last 10 games we`ve taken 16 points and they`ve taken 15. The margins can be tight and today we have taken our chances; probably only about two-thirds of them with no disrespect to Charlton, because in the second half it could have been more than four.’
With it being a first win in seven matches, Dyche went on to credit the patience of the supporters as everyone would’ve hoped for a better points return over the last two months.
‘Our fans have been really patient and the game was flat in the first half. The ball was swirling in the wind and they were dampening the game by taking their time with everything. The lads were a little edgy, but players are only human and that little bit of anxiety creeps in. It`s hard for players these days to not question themselves because they get bombarded with opinion from outside. But they have delivered today and that focus will always remain on the challenge, which is the next game and not get too involved in the outside perception. Our belief and our expectation of ourselves is as strong as anything and the players dealt with that well today. We got the goal and the message at half time was to relax and play with freedom and in the second half they did that and some of the play was as good as I`ve seen here at times. The second half was borderline excellent.’
With the win was also renewed confidence for the year ahead.
‘There were a lot of good signs today and the fact is we are still on course. The challenge is massive, but there is a lot of life in what we are doing here.’
As for the double goalscorer on the day, he felt the overall performance had reminded people in the Championship what Burnley are capable of – two goals also wasn’t a bad way to celebrate his 100th league start for the club either.
‘We`ve been threatening that, maybe not in the last couple of weeks but we deserved it. In the second-half I thought we were brilliant and the fans got right behind us and we showed what we`re all about. It`s lovely to score as well, it was a bit lucky at times as I think the second one gets a deflection but I`ll take them all day as it`s the best feeling in the world scoring a goal so you want to keep doing so. With the run we`ve been on it was important we got the win today and you could sense the relief when the goal went in. Most importantly in the second-half the performance from everyone was great. We rose to the occasion, as did the fans, and Charlton couldn`t deal with us at times. Overall we`ve not had a half as dominant as that and it really shows what we`re all about. Front-foot thinking and putting balls into the box with the full-backs bombing on. We limited them to very few chances and it could have been more. Rouwen comes on and has a chance, I had another and Kights as well. When you`re on top you need to put teams to the sword and thankfully we did that.’
With Hull City next up on Boxing Day, Arfield went on to say it wa a game everyone was relishing – as they were all the festive fixtures.
‘A lot is made of the festive period but as professionals you want to play games and it`s music to our ears. It`ll be a tough away fixture at Hull but one we`re all looking forward to.’
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