CAPTAIN Ben Mee says Burnley have paid no attention to being branded a physical side in the aftermath of defeat to Liverpool.

A war of words broke out between Sean Dyche and Jurgen Klopp, who said some of Burnley’s tackling should not have been allowed.

Mee was responsible for one of the game’s talking points - a hard but legal challenge on Joe Gomez, which left the young defender with a hairline fracture and facing around six weeks on the sidelines.

And while Mee said he was upset by Gomez’s injury and wished the 21-year-old a speedy recovery, he insisted it would not make the Clarets hold back in the future, because they had to fight their way out of trouble.

“You can’t take tackles out of the game, that’s part of the game,” said Mee.

“I’ve seen Liverpool make tackles and get the crowd up and things like that. For me, you can play fair, but you can also play hard.

“I don’t think there was anything wrong with my tackle personally. It was unfortunate what happened.

“The tackle was clean. It was unfortunate and I send my best wishes to him.

“Anyone who knows football knows it wasn’t a malicious tackle. Sometimes things happen in sport, unfortunate things. I hope he recovers soon and has a quick recovery.”

But Mee added: “Tackles are part of the game, that’s how we play and we’re not going to change for someone saying we shouldn’t tackle. I don’t see the problem.

“We’re not good enough to let people play around us, we need to get about people. We’re in a fight and we want to get out of it.

“Nobody wants to see players getting injured ever, but I think you play hard, you play fair.”

Looking ahead, Mee hopes Burnley can take confidence from ending their eight-game winless run by beating Brighton 1-0 at Turf Moor ahead of two tough pre-Christmas trips to the capital.

“It was nice to get back to doing what we do and getting the points. It’s sometimes difficult when you haven’t won for a while and we showed a little bit of nerves and tension, but getting over that line and getting the three points was the main thing tonight, no matter how we got them,” he said.

“Hopefully it will bring confidence and belief to the lads. I thought we deserved it.

“It tops off a good week to be fair, a good hard-working week for us.”