Burnley coach Sean Dyche ‘committed’ to club despite recent frustration

Burnley coach Sean Dyche has talked up his commitment to the Clarets after his side’s win at Crystal Palace improved their chances of securing European football next season.

Since the Premier League’s return, most of the conversations around Burnley have concerned the club’s failure to extend a number of first-team players’ contracts, and Dyche has voiced his frustration at the situation in recent weeks.

But things seem to be on the up for the Clarets, who have responded to a 5-0 loss at Manchester City in their first game back by securing successive 1-0 victories. They are up to eighth in the table on 45 points as a result, and – if Man City’s European ban is upheld – that position could well see them return to the Europa League next term.

“In the 100 days from the start of lockdown to the end, the dynamic of the club has changed somewhat, so that has been interesting to compute and to make sense of,” Dyche said after the win over Palace.

“But [today] you saw a group fully motivated, as am I. We’ve got a group here who never go under. I’ll be working hard, you saw me committed in the last game and this game and you saw a team full of commitment to playing for Burnley.”

When asked about his future at the club, Dyche said: “Everyone keeps talking about my future apart from me. I’m getting on with my job as I always do – I’m still here.”

It was captain Ben Mee’s second-half diving header that ensured Burnley took all three points on Monday evening.

“In the first half we played very well,” Dyche said. ”We’ve had to change things with the stretched squad we have and we did very well.

“In the second half Palace came out strongly and we lost our way a little bit, but we stayed resolute and we had to change our shape, because we had kids on the bench and we didn’t want to throw them in.”

While a European place is within reach, Dyche was keen not to place too much pressure on his hampered squad.

“There’s a long way to go because of how thin our squad is,” he said. ”There are no excuses though and the mentality is good, the physicality has to remain strong.”