Burnley boss Sean Dyche admits he was “pleasantly surprised” by his first taste of behind closed doors football amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Clarets manager tuned in to Borussia Dortmund’s 4-0 win over Schalke last Saturday as the Bundesliga became the first of Europe’s major leagues to return to action.
Sean Dyche said “I watched the Dortmund game. I thought it was good, I enjoyed it, The tempo was good, although it started as you’d imagine those games would. It had an almost pre-season feel to it; it was a bit slow and methodical. Once a few challenges went in and the tempo of the game changed I was pleasantly surprised. I wondered whether it would affect it, and it does of course affect it, but I thought it would affect it more than it did. The delivery of performances was good; it’s not ideal with that echoey noise, but if it’s football over no football then I’ll take it. I think that’s what most fans are looking for. They’ll take the scenario that’s given to them within this current situation.”
Sean Dyche also said that seeing the games happen behind closed doors was really weird but everyone has to adapt to the new realities of the world.
Sean Dyche said “The players are aware of that scenario (no crowds), The feeling of it will be peculiar because the game will mean a lot, but it will feel like a reserve game. The way they’ve adapted to these first few days has been ‘well, this is it, let’s get on with it’, therefore I can only imagine that by the time the games come round they’ll be ready anyway. They’ve already accepted the crowd scenario because it’s been said for a number of weeks that it will be behind closed doors if it does come back. There hasn’t been a shortage of media coverage on Covid-19 so they’ll be well versed on the possibilities and probabilities.”
