Instant Reactions – Burnley v Stoke City (12/12/17)

Following today’s clash between Burnley and Stoke City, here are the instant reactions from both managers.

Burnley hosted Stoke City for a 7.45pm kick off on Tuesday December 12, with the hosts taking a late one nil victory with Ashley Barnes grabbing the telling strike in the 89th minute.

The win lifts Burnley into fourth place in the Premier League table and Mark Hughes will certainly be disappointed as Burnley took the win with only two efforts on target, yet Stoke tested Nick Pope seven times without joy.

Teams

Burnley:

Pope, Bardsley, Tarkowski, Long, Ward (Taylor 41), Berg Gudmundsson, Cork, Defour, Arfield, Hendrick (Barnes 71), Wood (Vokes 82).

Substitutes:

Westwood, Ulvestad, Wells, Lindegaard.

Stoke:

Butland, Zouma (Wimmer 66), Shawcross, Cameron, Diouf, Fletcher, Allen, Pieters, Shaqiri (Choupo-Moting 84), Sobhi, Crouch.

Substitutes:

Berahino, Afellay, Adam, Grant, Edwards.

Speaking to the BBC’s cameras a short time after match day referee Mike Jones blew the final whistle, Burnley manager Sean Dyche explained.

‘It’s a run of results and a start which the fans are enjoying and rightly so. Football is about realities but also about dreams. It’s a tough task for us winning games at this level but Leicester blew the roof off dreams in football – there’s no bold statement from me on that. Tonight was a different style of getting a result. It was an ugly game at times in harsh conditions. We found a way to win and a real fine goal. Sometimes that’s football. We’re not the real deal, we’re a side that are improving. We’ve got an aligned thinking here, there’s no superstars, no favourites from me. I believe in all of them. We’ve got a group of people – there’s a belief in everything we do here.’

Sitting in fourth place he was asked about European aspirations, and Dyche dodged that.

‘I think there’s enough people saying good things. I keep reality because this division will eat you alive. We’re having a real go at what we can achieve this season. I’m not being negative. I’m a realist, there’s a lot of challenges coming our way. The fans and the town have got to enjoy these times, why wouldn’t you? A lot of psychology goes into some of our planning. I want the players to know that they can grow here, develop as players and get results. We are moving forward each season.’

Stoke City manager Mark Hughes in his comparitive interview explained.

‘I thought the lads were fantastic and matched everything Burnley threw at us. I thought when we were able to get the ball down, we were the team trying to create openings in wide areas and get good balls in. Another long ball goes into our box and it drops fortunately for the lad. It’s hard to take, Burnley didn’t deserve to win, clearly. I’m pleased with what we produced tonight. We felt the loss of Kurt Zouma. If we’d have kept Ryan and Kurt they’d have dealt with that situation.’

He added.

‘We’ve got a big game at the weekend now, we need more of the same and maybe a bit of luck. In the end they’ve got the break that their endeavour and determination deserves I suppose. At the moment the luck is going for them and they were fortunate today. The result isn’t what we wanted. We wanted to get a positive result. We need a little bit of fortune to go our way.’