An angry Scott Parker admits his Burnley players were worryingly “frail” during their miserable collapse against Nottingham Forest.
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25 photos of Burnley fans arriving at the City Ground for Premier League clash w...](https://www.burnleyexpress.net/sport/football/25-photos-of-burnley-fans-arriving-at-the-city-ground-for-premier-league-clash-with-nottingham-forest-6803382 "25 photos of Burnley fans arriving at the City Ground for Premier League clash with Nottingham Forest")
The first three of those goals came via a Morgan Gibbs-White hat-trick in the space of just 15 minutes after the hour mark, in which Parker’s side simply wilted.
Igor Jesus then added the final touches in stoppage time to make matters even worse for the Clarets, who could be relegated as early as Wednesday night.
When asked for his immediate reaction, Parker replied: “Angry, really.
“I mean, for 60 minutes or at half-time, if you'd have said the game would have ended 4-1 to Forest, I think everyone would have said no chance.
“We came here, everything we worked on, everything we wanted to be in the first half, we were really. Dampen the stadium down, dampen the crowd down, frustrate a little bit – and then in our moment, can we show our quality? We did that.
Scott Parker looks despondent at full time following the 4-1 defeat to Notingham Forest. Photo: Kelvin Lister-Stuttardplaceholder image
Scott Parker looks despondent at full time following the 4-1 defeat to Notingham Forest. Photo: Kelvin Lister-Stuttard
“We knew for the first 15 minutes of the second half, that was the same case and then the inconsistencies of the team, once they scored the goal, really, we just couldn't survive.
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“At that moment, I think you see the frailties of the team, really. Before you know it, you're on the end of four goals in 30 minutes and the game's just… you give yourself no chance.”
Parker added: “At certain moments, we’ve let ourselves down in this division. You lack a focus, you lack an intensity, the game can just quickly go away from that.
“This league's too punishing, too good at certain moments, and today, when that happened, when the first goal went in for them, we couldn't really handle that moment and jab our way out of it, and before you know it, you're on the end of four goals.”
Parker also accepted his players’ mentality could also be called into question.
“I think today might have been [the case],” he said. “I think that's fair to say.
“I think I've said it to you before, there's a lot of scars. What this group hold over the course of the season, I felt like the goal goes in and that scar became open for us. We just fell away.
“Again, there's always endeavour and the effort's there, but we just looked a bit weak and we looked seriously vulnerable. At this level, with this quality, you get punished and I think we've seen that over the course of this season.
“The inconsistencies of this team are there for everyone to see and that was what was disappointing.”
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