Glen Little insists Scott Parker must find a way to strike the right balance in the Premier League next season – and not solely rely on their defensive prowess.
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The Clarets are unlikely to repeat the same mistake as they did two years ago, when they kept faith with their possession-based, playing-out-from-the-back approach that had led them to the Championship title.
Vincent Kompany’s men weren’t able to repeat that style against elite opposition in the top flight and were inevitably relegated with a measly 24 points to their name.
On this occasion under Parker, Burnley approach the Premier League with a much more resolute, balanced style that saw them keep an incredible 30 clean sheets in 46 league games, conceding just 16 times.
While that bodes well ahead of a fight for survival, Clarets favourite Little has warned Burnley not to neglect the other side of the game.
“We saw Vincent Kompany trying to keep the ball but how often did we see the players getting caught in possession? That was the one standout from that team,” he told the Burnley Express.
“The individual errors, game after game, getting punished…so you would have to say maybe you've got to go defensive.
Scott Parker has a record-breaking defence to rely on in the Premier League next season, but will it be enough? (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)placeholder image
Scott Parker has a record-breaking defence to rely on in the Premier League next season, but will it be enough? (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
“We know that they can defend with all the clean sheets and the goalkeeper, now whether that holds up in the Premier League again, I don't know. It's all well and good keeping all those clean sheets in the Championship, but can you do that in the Premier League?
“It's very difficult if you go down the route of trying to play the Premier League teams at their own game. But if you're just saying: ‘we're going to shut up shop and get men behind the ball’, will that work? It's hard, isn't it?
“They really have to find a way of playing where it maybe mixes a bit of both and see if that works. But I just think it's so difficult now for these teams coming up from what we've seen the last two years.
“Look at Leeds, all they do is keep the ball. Now, will that work in the Premier League? I can't see it.
“I just think for the three teams coming up, until someone shows me otherwise, after what I've seen the last two seasons, until someone shows me they can go into the Premier League and stay up, I'm not really going to believe it until I see it.
“I just think that no matter if you play attacking football, you might not be good enough doing that, but can you just spend 38 games saying we're going to get people behind the ball and try and keep a clean sheet? Have they got the players to really play the Sean Dyche football?
“I think we've sort of moved away from that now, so can you do that where it's the 4-4-2? But the one thing that Dyche had was a really experienced team, didn't he? That did it season after season.
“But this is quite a young team, so I really don't know. I'd like to have the answers, but if I had them, I'd be in charge.”
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