Survival in sight for Dyche as Burnley turn it around
FOR all the stumbles, trips and face-plants of their season, Burnley have a bit of swagger about them at last.
And finally a bit of workplace security, too.
It would take an awful capitulation at this stage to give away their Premier League berth, with eight points separating them from 18th-place Cardiff.
They won’t say they are safe, but they should be, even if Cardiff do have a game in hand and a crack at Burnley next Saturday.
Those considerations will be drummed into the squad by Sean Dyche over and again in the coming week, but it is devilishly hard to see it all going south from here, even if the sheer weirdness of Burnley’s season is proof that nothing can be taken for granted.
This is a team that managed 12 points from its first 19 games but since Boxing Day has taken 24 from 14, including a run of four straight losses. Go compare and go figure.
This match, to some extent, encapsulated the down-and-up madness of it all. They trailed inside four minutes to an Ashley Barnes own goal that was rooted in poor defending, and then they battered Bournemouth for three, with strikes from Chris Wood, Ashley Westwood and Barnes.
Quite aside from crushing a side with a good home record, Burnley did it with one of their best performances of the season.
Dyche said: ‘When you’re 1-0 down early in the game then yes, it’s up there with our best performance. I think the calmness was key today and I was really pleased with that.
‘We’ve done that better since Christmas. We have 24 points in 14 games and that’s a fantastic return. ‘With performances like that you can see why we’ve got that return.’
Good as the win was, there is a sense that Eddie Howe’s side have eased up in their mid-table safety. They have 38 points and it seems inconceivable that Cardiff on 28 will catch them, but he disputes the notion of security, and the theory his side have become complacent.
That being said, their record of one win from their past nine games is way beneath their capabilities.
Howe said: ‘I don’t know how many times I’ve got to say that we’re not safe. I don’t consider myself safe and on my holidays and the players are the same.’
Howe’s anxieties have been increased by the need for Charlie Daniels to undergo surgery on a serious knee injury, which was revealed ahead of kick-off.
From that piece of bad news, his day looked like it was
improving sharply with the start of this match.
They led with the first meaningful attack, when Ryan Fraser’s free-kick was flicked on by Jefferson rson Lerma and into the path of Nathan Ake. .
Barnes wrestled his way in to position to intercept but could only glance a header past his own keeper. Less than ideal.
Dyche will likely also wonder about the he space Lerma was given iven by centre-back James Tarkowski for the initial header.
Thereafter, Bournemouth looked fair value for a second, but after David Brooks missed a good chance, Burnley turned the match with two goals in three minutes, each rooted in defensive errors. For the first, Asmir Begov Begovic flapped and mis missed at a high, insw swinging corner f from Westwood a and allowed the ball to drop for Chris Wood two yards out at the f far post. A simple h header and a gift of an equaliser. Th The wind was a factor in Begovic losing the cross in its flight, but only up to a point. Two minutes later, Burnley were ahead. The move reached its critical phase when Dwight McNeil — a very promising 19-year-old — beat Nathaniel Clyne to the byline and rolled the ball low to the near post.
At that point Chris Mepham was caught in his thoughts between a hoof and something more delicate and ended up passing directly to Westwood, who fired it right back down his throat and in. From 1-0 down to 2-1 up in a blink.
Callum Wilson fluffed a free header a moment later and Barnes made it 3-1 early in the second half.