Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
DYCHE TIRED OF THE SAME OLD EXCUSES
SEAN DYCHE will not allow his players to use tiredness as an excuse over the festive period.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp and Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola have blasted the schedule.
Burnley boss Dyche is preparing for Manchester United’s visit today just over 48 hours after a 1-0 Boxing Day defeat at Everton.
But he is not going to give his players an excuse despite the hectic fixture list as he believes they should be raring to go.
“They should be in good shape,” said Dyche. “Scientifically it’s not ideal but emotionally and intelligence-wise you should understand what your body can do and the demands of the modern game. That’s just the way it goes.
“They’ve ever more support these days on every level so certainly should have the capability to recover the best they can. I will expect my players to be ready to go.”
He believes having to fight for survival in the Premier League ensures the Clarets will respond to losing at Goodison when they face United .
He said: “The resilience comes from the mentality to be not too affected. If you lose a game, it’s about how quickly can you shrug it off and make sense of it.
“The good side of every season being a massive challenge for us is you grow that resilience. You know statistically you can’t win every game and will get knocks along the way, it’s how you come out of the knocks. That mentality has to be clear and bloody minded.”
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side thrashed Newcastle on Boxing
Day but have been up and down and Dyche is hoping they have another off day.
He added: “They’re probably looking for consistency – not just week-to-week but also in games. They’ve had spells when they’ve been quiet and electric. Hopefully they have a quiet spell against us.”