Dyche Calm As Clarets Slip To Defeat

Burnley boss Sean Dyche refused to criticise his players as their unbeaten run came to an end at Newcastle last night.

Dyche was disappointed to see his side surrender its eight-game unbeaten league run on Tyneside, but insisted he could not be too critical of his players.

The win was secured by Newcastle defender Fabian Schar’s stunning 24th-minute strike and in-form midfielder Sean Longstaff’s first Premier League goal, which arrived 14 minutes later as the Clarets struggled before the break and left themselves too much to do after it.

Asked if they had failed to reach their recent standards, Dyche said: “We were a long way off, particularly first half. We were a bit better second half, but first half, a long way off, and sometimes that can happen.

“Credit to them (Newcastle) as well because I thought they were better first half, they were sharper, their anticipation was better. It was a mixed bag, but I believe they deserved to win.

I thought their performance overall was better than ours. “But I’m not going to start criticising a group who have been unbeaten in eight games and have had some massive performances and big results and big points on the board.”