Matt Scrafton's verdict on Burnley's 3-2 defeat to West Ham
An animated Scott Parker was left angry with his Burnley players following today’s costly defeat to West Ham.
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Parker’s side now stay outside the bottom three on goal difference only.
While the Clarets boss was generally happy with how his side played and controlled large swathes of the game, he was left visibly upset with his players continuing to switch off - with two of West Ham’s goals coming from set-pieces.
“I don't know whether it [the scoreline] was harsh,” Parker said afterwards.
“My feeling is we were exceptional at the start of the game. Everything we wanted to be: quieting down this stadium. I thought we showed real maturity. I thought we showed huge quality. Get our noses in front with a well-worked goal.
“And at that moment, we then just played the game that West Ham wanted us to play. Everything we'd done to that point in terms of every decision they made, it felt that they were always wrong. Certainly with the ball, we took the game right off them.
Scott Parker looks dejected after Burnley lose 3-2 at West Ham United. Photo: Kelvin Lister-Stuttardplaceholder image
Scott Parker looks dejected after Burnley lose 3-2 at West Ham United. Photo: Kelvin Lister-Stuttard
“At that point, really, we turned the game into every bit of the game that West Ham wanted in terms of a basketball match, counter-attack, big spaces.
“We switch off on a set play, which was hugely disappointing. Second-half, my feeling at the moment, it was exactly like the first. I felt that we controlled the game, literally limited them, penned them in, locked down positions, nullified them for a counter-attack – and then they scored 2-1 and it becomes very difficult for us.”
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When asked to pinpoint what his players needed to do differently, Parker added: “Fundamentally, we've been here this year many a time after games and speaking about concentration and focus.
“The ball goes dead, there's individuals where we're not set up right and we're just switching off. We just switched off at that moment.
“In this division, like I've said many a time, you switch off for one second, there's every chance the ball ends up in the back of your net – and we've fallen a little bit short this year in those certain moments and it's something we have to fix.
“Because again, the team that you see here today have come to a tough away game to face a West Ham side that have got exceptional players, some real quality players and my team looked a top, top team.
“But I'm sitting here and I'm weak in my position when I say this to you. I'm fundamentally weak because we're walking away with a loss.
“So while I can sit here and praise how well we did and how much control we had and what a good side we looked, we've fallen short in moments of concentration which has cost us the game.
“This is a big, big league, big man league that we need to learn from quickly.”
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