SEAN Dyche believes the Clarets have ‘more strings to their bow’ this season, but insists being effective in whatever style they adapt is the key to the results they’ve picked up so far this season.

Burnley resume Premier League duties on Saturday when they welcome West Ham to Turf Moor sitting sixth in the top flight, with just one defeat from seven games.

Dyche has been pleased with the way his side have shown their many different faces so far this season, and although they’ve won plaudits for style the Clarets chief said he won’t be afraid of going direct if he thinks it will be effective.

“I think we’ve got more strings to our bow. There have been moments in games where we’ve been more controlled,” Dyche said of the start to the season.

“I mentioned against Huddersfield - in a tight game you don’t want to go too far to win it when you could lose it. I thought we controlled aspects of that game when it needed that calmness, I thought we kept the ball at times, slowed it down.

“Steven Defour was terrific at that, he’s got a good barometer for that, he’s been around the block and knows when it needs a bit of calmness. Corky (Jack Cork) knows when to keep the ball and calm the game down.

“In other games, when we’ve had to play muck and nettles, get it forward, be robust, work hard, play from a shape, they’re all the things you have to do over a season and I think we do it really well.

“I’m really pleased with the group and how they adapt to that because it’s not easy. If you have one style, and that style isn’t working, it’s hard to change. We have a few different ones that we can manipulate and use wisely.”

The stats for this season show that Burnley are averaging more short passes per game and slightly fewer long balls per match than last season.

Last season Burnley were 19th in Premier League clubs for average possession per game, at 42.7 per cent, but so far this season they’ve already recorded more possession than the opposition in two of their three fixtures at Turf Moor, against West Brom and Huddersfield.

“At Liverpool we deliberately played it a different way. Huddersfield and West Brom we had a lot more of the ball. Palace we had to go back to fighting and organisation,” Dyche said of his side’s approach so far.

“We’re not the real deal so we have to find different ways of operating and I think that is really good for players to do anyway to understand the whole way in which the game works, not just one particular style.

“They key is to be effective, whatever style you’re going to be. You’ve got to be effective because you’ve got to win a game.

“That’s the key for me, it’s the mixed football that I talk about. It’s not just mixed in any 90 minutes, it’s mixed in a game plan. What do you need for this particular game? Can your players deliver it?

“That takes a lot of open-mindedness and a lot of understanding from the players. I think they are adaptive to that and I’ve enjoyed working with them on that basis.”