Ben Mee Burnley
Burnley captain Ben Mee insists he and his team-mates aren’t panicking after taking two points from their opening six matches and believes they can draw on experiences of seasons gone by to turn things around. Only Norwich – this weekend’s visitors to Turf Moor – sit below Burnley in the embryonic standings of the Premier League, but Mee says the Clarets are used to overcoming troughs in form.
Ben Mee said: “I think it would play on our minds a bit more if we weren’t playing well and we were really struggling and not being able to get going. But it’s not been the case. We’ve actually had some really good performances. I don’t think the performances were quite there last season (early on), I think we were getting beaten probably deservedly a lot of the time. But this season there’s a bit of a change in performances and energy. We’ve been in the situation a lot previously, we don’t want to be but we have been. We’re experienced as players, we’ve got the same players that have been here for a long time and have been through these experiences. We’re usually underdogs going into every game so it’s no different for us. We all know ourselves as players, where we’re at and where we need to be and how we need to move up the table. I’ve got every confidence that we will – we’re a good side. We’ve got a good squad, it feels like the squad’s come together well and that improves the feeling round the place.”
Burnley twice went ahead at Leicester last Saturday but settled for a 2-2 draw after being pegged back by a Jamie Vardy double, while Chris Wood’s last-gasp headed goal was chalked off for offside. It is the fourth game where Burnley have let slip a one-goal lead this term while they have conceded 11 times this season, and Mee admitted he and the rest of the backline need to improve.
Ben Mee added: “We need to do better, we know that. We’ve got a good unit defensively, a good unit as a group, as a team. Maybe we’re playing a little bit more open, scoring a few more goals, that’s maybe contributing towards conceding a few more. We’ll get it right, we’re certainly looking at it and working on it. We can do a job in this league, we have done for many years and we just need to get our focus back as a whole unit, as a team as well.”
Burnley can give themselves a boost while looking to deepen the gloom at newly-promoted Norwich, who have lost all six matches on their return to the top-flight.
Ben Mee said: “I fully expect us to go to our ground full of confidence and take the game to them and show we are favourites and dominate the game. hope we will and I’m fully confident we will.”
Burnley had to wait until their eighth league game for a win in the last campaign but finished 11 points clear of the relegation zone, and Mee feels their displays then were inferior to what they have produced in recent weeks.
