Midfielder and new England man Jack Cork has insisted nobody inside the Burnley camp will be getting carried away following our start to the 2017/18 season.
Having become the first Burnley side to secure back to back top flight campaigns since the mid 1970’s, Cork admitted the initial plan is to make that three years and despite our start to the season that has returned 19 points from eleven games, that continues to be our main aim despite increased hope and expectation.
Speaking to the Official Site ahead of the Swansea City game this weekend, Cork insisted everyone was keeping their feet on the ground as things will go wrong quickly if players got complacent.
‘To get up to 22 points with a win on Saturday would be unbelievable. We didn’t predict anything like that when we looked at the fixtures, so to be where we are is a great achievement and good for everyone that has contributed in it. We just need to get as many points as we can before Christmas.’
Cork went on to say.
‘The earlier we can get to the 40-point mark is the best thing we can do. That`s still the main focus. The focus since the start of the season was to get those points as quickly as possible and that`s what we`ve got to do. We will look at Christmas as the next target and maybe try to get to 30, which would give us a good margin for the rest of the season to push on from there. So another few wins before Christmas would be perfect. As soon as you start getting carried away, you get smacked back down. We have to be realistic and stick to what the targets were at the start of the season.’
With 80 Premier League appearances for Swansea, he’s looking forward to welcoming some friendly faces to Turf Moor this weekend, but the focus is on the points and taking the win. He also said he felt nobody should write off his old side given their struggling start to the campaign as he expects them to rally.
‘The last two seasons at Swansea had been tough starts for me, so to be in a position like this is great. It does take the pressure off, but we know, and I know from experience, that as soon as you start taking your foot off the gas and start enjoying it too much you get punished and smacked back down to earth. We need to be really careful. They’re a team that will work hard and will be trying to get that win because they’re desperate for it. We need to be ready for that.’
Adding.
‘They’ve got world-class players, players that play for their countries, a lot of caps and a lot of Premier League experience and we need to be ready for that challenge. It’s always hard to get out of it when you’ve had one or two bad results. It does seem to spread a bit and go around the club. They’ve had two years of those bad starts but they’ve managed to get themselves out of it quite easily towards the end. You just need something to click and something to trigger to get out of it. I’m sure they’ll find it and I’m sure it will come along, but hopefully not this weekend.’
