Burnley boss Nicky Hayen has challenged his players to show their “real face” when they return to action against Middlesbrough on Wednesday night following Saturday’s heavy 4-1 Championship defeat at Norwich City.
The Clarets were well beaten at Carrow Road and remain in search of their first league win of the season, but Hayen insists he expects an immediate reaction from his squad as they prepare for another difficult test.
“I expect a response 100 per cent,” Hayen told the club website.
“We had really good moments (against Norwich) and against Bradford (in the Carabao Cup) as well, but we have to defend better, we have to stick together more as a team, and everyone has to give more effort than they are showing at the moment.
That’s when you are a real team.”
Burnley have endured a challenging opening schedule, with away trips featuring prominently in the early weeks of the campaign, and Hayen believes there were still encouraging signs in Norfolk despite the scoreline.
“We knew it wasn’t the easiest start because you have two away games and now the Middlesbrough game, but we will be resilient and show our real face,” he added.
“The last 15 minutes of the first half was our real face, but this is something that we need to do for 90 minutes.”
Despite collecting only one point from their opening three Championship matches, Hayen remains convinced Burnley possess the quality required to turn their fortunes around.
“You see with players we have a lot of potential,” he said.
“This is just something we have to change around and I’m confident we can do it.
I said it before, it’s a process.”
The Burnley manager pointed to previous campaigns in which the club recovered from difficult starts and also highlighted the need for patience as several players continue to rebuild fitness and sharpness after lengthy spells away from regular football.
“You see there’s a lot of potential, but there are also players who didn’t play for 18 months, for 15 months, loaned out, coming back, so they will also need time,” he added.
Burnley have conceded nine goals in the opening three league games and Hayen knows that is an area they need to improve on.
He said: “It’s a really tough start and that’s the art of defending.
But you don’t defend with only four defenders, everyone has to do his job.
“Also in transition moments, we give the ball away sometimes in an easy way and everyone just has to sprint back.
I’m not someone who wants to really highlight a player but if you see today, how Dastan (Satpayev) played – an 18-year-old, with the energy he had to press forward.
“But if you saw how he made defensive runs, even when he didn’t have to do it, but he did it for his teammates, that’s the mindset that we want to see from every player.
This is the standard that we want to see, and everyone should be following it.”
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