PROGRAMME INSULTS AND SUPERSUB VYDRA DO THE TRICK FOR BURNLEY
WHEN facing Burnley, the last thing you want to do is give them extra motivation and Southampton did just that with an article in their match programme targeting left-back Charlie Taylor in particular. ‘They were quite disparaging about Charlie,’ said Sean Dyche, Burnley’s manager. ‘His form must have almost pushed him into the thinking of the national side.’ The programme also suggested that Burnley were a long-ball team. Did Dyche read the article to his players before the game? ‘They had already read it,’ he said after the win saw Burnley stay one place above Southampton, 11th in the table. ‘I don’t know why programmes do that,’ he said. ‘I love it. I almost want
to find the fella who wrote it and say: “Thanks, you are magic”.’ With the game ruined as a spectacle by the winds of Storm Dennis, Burnley’s players took their opportunity. They are looking up the table now, rather than down, and European football is a legitimate target after three wins and a draw in their last four matches. ‘Before that, we were doomed,’ said Dyche. And though Chris Wood has joined Ashley Barnes on the injured list, Dyche’s supersub Matej Vydra scored a spectacular winner.
A bizarre opening goal from Ashley Westwood, direct from a corner that Saints’ Danny Ings allowed to go in at the near post when he fully expected the ball to go for a goal kick, was followed by a period of Southampton domination. Ings equalised with a fearsome shot from the edge of the area and Jack Stephens hit the bar with a header. However, Burnley managed to regroup and Vydra snatched a glorious winner on the hour. Southampton’s Danish central defender Jannik Vestergaard regarded the defeat as a missed chance to cement his club’s Premier League status, following their spirited response to the shock of that 9-0 defeat by Leicester in October. ‘It was a reminder that if we want to continue to win games in the Premier League, we have to do better,’ said Vestergaard. Burnley needed the likes of James Tarkowski to be at their best to keep Ings relatively quiet after his goal, but perhaps the Saints striker will add to his single England cap, awarded back in 2015. ‘Gareth Southgate has shown he is quite open to players, so we’ll see,’ said Dyche. ‘He is certainly laying a marker down with his goals.’