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BEN MEE loves defending – and after repelling Brighton he hit back at Jurgen Klopp’s attacks on Burnley.
Mee made a passionate defence of Burnley in response to Klopp’s midweek criticism they were over-physical against Liverpool with their sliding tackles.
The centre-half was in the eye of the storm as his challenge, while perfectly fair, left Joe Gomez with a fractured leg.
Mee is the epitome of the honest pro. He feels sorry for Gomez, but insists Burnley won’t change their style because of Klopp’s carping.
“I don’t think there was anything wrong with my tackle personally,” said Mee. “It was unfortunate what happened.
“I send my best wishes to him. Anyone who knows football knows it wasn’t a malicious tackle. Sometimes things happen in sport, unfortunate things. I hope he recovers soon.
“Nobody wants to see players getting injured ever, but I think you play hard, you play fair.
“Tackles are part of the game. That’s how we play and we’re not going to change for someone saying we shouldn’t tackle. I don’t see the problem.
“I’ve seen Liverpool make tackles and get the crowd up and things like that.
“For me, you can play fair, but you can also play hard. We’re not good enough to let people play around us, we need to get about people. We’re in a fight and we want to get out of it.”
Mee felt Burnley looked more like their old selves against Liverpool in midweek and continued that against Brighton as they climbed out of the bottom three.
The victory, courtesy of James Tarkowski’s scrappy 40th-minute goal – which should have been called offside – was their first since September 30.
Difficult
Burnley were resolute as they notched up only their third clean sheet in their last 18 league games at Turf Moor.
Mee said: “It was nice to get back to doing what we do and getting the points.
“It’s sometimes difficult when you haven’t won for a while and we showed a little bit of nerves and tension, but getting over that line and getting the three points was the main thing.
“Hopefully it will bring confidence and belief to the lads.”
Jurgen Locadia missed a great late chance to earn a point for Brighton but skipper Bruno backed the Dutch striker, who has managed just two goals since joining from PSV Eindhoven in January.
“He had an impact,” said the Spanish full-back. “Scoring would have been important for the team, but it would have been important for him as well in terms of confidence. He was unlucky.
“He held up the ball well, he was sending the ball to the midfielders to switch play and after that he was getting into the box. We expect players who come on from the bench to have that impact and he did that.” BURNLEY (4-4-2): Hart 6; Bardsley 5, TARKOWSKI 7, Mee 6, Taylor 5; Gudmundsson 6 (Lennon 72), Cork 6, Westwood 6, Brady 6; Wood 6, Barnes 6 (Hendrick 85). Subs: Heaton, Lowton, Vokes, Vydra, Long.
UP NEXT: Tottenham (a), Premier League, Saturday.
BRIGHTON (4-1-4-1): Ryan 6; Bruno
6, DUNK 7, Balogun 6, Bernardo 6; Propper 6; Knockaert 6 (Locadia 63, 4), Bissouma 5, Gross 6 (Stephens 79), March
6; Andone 5 (Murray 63, 6). Subs: Steele, Bong, Kayal, White.
UP NEXT: Chelsea (h), Premier League, Sunday.
Referee: Martin Atkinson 6.
YOUR TURN: Which English striker scored when Burnley last beat Albion at home, 1-0 in the Championship in April
2012?