Burnley boss Sean Dyche believes Dwight McNeil would be getting plenty more attention were he playing for a more fashionable club. The Clarets winger has been in fine form in recent weeks and has become a key man for Burnley since breaking into the side a little over a year ago. He is playing far more regularly than some of the players regularly touted as the next thing, such as Phil Foden, and Dyche feels playing for Burnley means he doesn’t garner the headlines his performances deserve.
Sean Dyche said “We are not a fashionable badge. If he had a fashionable badge on him I think people would be raving about him, I am not saying people aren’t giving him credit because most are but I think they would be properly raving about him. I think he is a very talented young player and I have said it since day one. He is still improving and still knows he has to improve and that is the good side of it. He still has a long way to go to be the real deal but he is on line to be a very strong player in the Premier League. I think that is 51 Premier League games pretty much on the bounce and for a player who started that run at 19 and has just turned 20, I think that is absolutely top class.”
The talented youngster has played more than 50 times for the club already and has scored five goals for the club.
Burnley Football Club has introduced extra precautionary measures in the wake of the widening Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak. A club spokesman confirmed the Premier League outfit was monitoring the situation, but added that a number of measures had been introduced to protect players, staff and visitors, which has included extra hand sanitisers installed around club facilities.
Burnley Football Club said “Ground tours will not involve the dressing rooms and we’re keeping the tunnel area as sterile as possible on matchdays. We will also be vetting and putting in place restrictions on personnel visiting the training ground.”
There are already suggestions in the football circles that the premier league may resort to playing matches behind the closed doors and this is likely to have a huge impact on the revenues of the football clubs, especially for a club like Burnley who has over 5% of their annual income coming from gate receipts and a loss which will not be insured if the closed-door matches is not a one-off incident.
Chris Wood chalked up a personal best and hopes there’s still more to come from him and the team. The Clarets’ striker notched his 11th Premier League goal of the season – surpassing the 10 he managed in his first two seasons at Turf Moor – as Burnley extended their unbeaten run to seven games with a 1-1 draw against Tottenham Hotspur.
Chris Wood said “It’s always nice to get back on the scoresheet early, especially when you’ve been out for a couple of games, It’s nice to have that tally ticked past from the past seasons. It’s a good place to be in and hopefully there are a lot more to come. The first half was fantastic. I think we played extremely well and created some good opportunities. We feel good. We just want to keep that run going, It’s a big one next week, which is going to be tough, but I don’t see why we can’t go there full of confidence. We’ve got on a good run at a good time and we’ve got some good games ahead to hopefully keep it going and we can continue to look up.”
The point Burnley got them to 10th on the table, ahead of Crystal Palace on goal difference and if Manchester City’s European ban stays a top-seven finish can get them into a Europa league which they are just four points off right now.
Sean Dyche has claimed that ‘some words’ were said at half-time between Tottenham’s staff and referee Jonathan Moss during Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Turf Moor. The Burnley manager believes Moss then ‘changed his performance’ and ‘everything’ seemed to be going Tottenham’s way after the break, as he also stated how ‘bizarre’ it was that his side received six bookings.
Sean Dyche said “We saw it with [Joe] Gomez. He gets a push in the back [from Callum Wilson against Bournemouth]. I guarantee if he flails his arms and rolls around on the floor, it’s given. But he tries to do the right thing [by staying on his feet] and it’s not given. And Bournemouth get a goal from it. Similar thing [against Tottenham]. Second half, there was some words at half time whilst we were going off the pitch from a few of their staff with the referee and then the referee changed his performance, I thought. That sometimes happens. You hope it doesn’t. I thought the second half everything seemed to be given for very little – it seems bizarre to me that we had six bookings.”
