Dyche won’t be drawn on Europa League talk

Posted Sunday, April 08, 2018 by PA

Burnley manager Sean Dyche did not want to talk about his side’s European ambitions this season, which were enhanced after a 2-1 win at Watford.

The Clarets have a real shot at qualifying for the Europa League after this fourth successive Premier League victory saw them cut the gap on sixth-placed Arsenal to two points ahead of the Gunners’ clash with Southampton on Sunday.

Those hopes looked like faltering at Vicarage Road after Roberto Pereyra put the Hornets in front on the hour mark, but quickfire replies from Sam Vokes – seconds after coming off the bench – and Jack Cork saw Dyche’s men register a seventh away success of what has been a memorable campaign.

Burnley’s fans are certainly dreaming of Europe, chanting ‘We’re all going on a European tour’, but Dyche is happy to let other people talk about it.

“They have been chanting that for ages, it started as a joke and now it might not be such a joke,” he said.

“I think we have another game next weekend, I have been talking about the next game ever since I have been at the club.

“We haven’t done anything until the end of the season. It’s your job to write about the ups and downs, the ins and outs of the season, it’s my job to remember that you only get measured at the end of the season on the last game when that table is there in front of you.

“You can have good spells and you can have bad spells. We are having a good season.

“The first marker is, ‘Can we better than last season?’. We have achieved that a few weeks ago.”

Burnley’s win was inspired by Dyche’s introduction of Vokes, who scored with his first touch 22 seconds later.

“I said to him if you don’t score in 30 seconds you won’t be playing again,” Dyche joked. “That is some motivation.”

Hornets boss Javi Gracia, who suffered a first home defeat, was left to rue the three minutes of madness – and an inability to defend set-pieces – that cost his side any points.

The Hornets were well on top thanks to Pereyra’s 61st-minute strike and were heading for a win until Vokes came on and changed the game.

And the Spaniard knows his side must do better at the back.

“I think we dominated the game, we had more shots, more shots on target but it wasn’t enough,” he said.

“We should have killed the game and after three minutes we have conceded two goals from two free-kicks again.

“We have to improve the defensive actions because we are losing many points. You can see we need to improve defensive actions. I hope in the next game we will be better.

“We know Burnley’s style of play, with long balls and second balls, they feel comfortable without the ball.

“But before we conceded the goals we were playing well, we created chances to score, we felt comfortable but after that it was tough for us.”