Sean Dyche’s thoughts on Burnley’s 3-0 defeat at home to Liverpool

Sean Dyche felt Liverpool’s finishing was the difference as his side went down 3-0 at Turf Moor in front of their own fans for the first time in 15 months.
Sean DycheSean Dyche
Sean Dyche

A total of 3,500 lucky Clarets fans won the ballot for free tickets for the return to their “happy place”, and got behind a Burnley side who have Liverpool a stern examination.

But Jurgen Klopp’s side’s class told in the end, thanks to goals from Roberto Firmino, Nat Phillips and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, as Liverpool moved into the Champions League places with one game to play.

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Dyche hopes his side can build on their defensive base and add that killer instinct in front of goal moving forwards, and said, after the 4-0 defeat at home to Leeds on Saturday: “You don’t want to keep saying that (scoreline flattered the opposition), but there was a little bit of that in it.

”They are a quality side, we know that, and they were clinical with their chances.

”That went against us, where we haven’t taken ours.

”We've actually done pretty well overall I think, there were a lot of good signs, we have created chances, which is difficult we had more of the ball than we’ve probably had ever against Liverpool, but there is the gap, it’s there to see.

”They had three shots on target and scored three, and that’s sometimes how it is against this sort of side, they invest heavily on quality players and when they are on form, they show it.

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”Ours is a development type plan, and we’ve definitely got to make a shift in that direction when it’s in the top third, because we had some great moments in important areas of the pitch, where we should do better.

”That is the challenge for us going forward, definitely.”

Chris Wood had a big chance in the first half to add to his 12 goals this season, while Ben Mee had an effort cleared off the line by Phillips, and Dyche added: ”I thought Woody was excellent, he’s in really good form, his team play was very good, his strength, he gets a chance, which he has been putting away so I’ll never knock him for that, Browny did okay in there as well, we just played around with that look - can we be effective with it?

”The fault with that shape (4-4-1-1) is can you be effective, and at times we were.

”it’s been a long, hard season for these players, but they're still going and I’ve been really pleased with that, there’s been no lack of effort, no lack of intent, we’re still trying to get back in the game, Ben Mee has one cleared off the line, so I’m pleased with that side of things.

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”it’s just that next step, that continuation of trying to mature is that shift in the top third of the pitch because generally we’ve been good defensively over the season, a good clean sheet number again, it’s just finding those key moments in the top third of the pitch.”

Dyche handed a first Premier League start to Will Norris in goal, and he explained his decision: “Bails (Peacock-Farrell) has had a real tough run of games, he’s still developing and we believe he is. Will has been terrific, to be fair to him, in and around the group, and that’s why he’s been on the bench a number of times, and it’s just out of respect to him.

”it was a tough ask for him but I thought he did okay. We can’t start examining the goals too much because there was a lot going on in front of him.

”Equally with the idea of the change in shape, we looked at it at Manchester United and felt it went pretty well, and tonight there were signs again, just trying to operate in different ways.”

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And on the partial return of fans, he added: ”Yeah, terrific, there’s a long way to go, but it’s great to see them back in, it’s been a long time, and I do believe the fans make a difference.

”There’s been a lot made of the home form, and fans are important, they have always been in my time here and the extra bit they can help the team going forward will be important.”