Beating Bees boosts Burnley’s confidence, says Chris Wood
The Clarets were 3-1 victors at Turf Moor on Saturday.
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Chris Wood says Burnley had confidence in themselves before but admits the win over Brentford on Saturday has given it a boost.
The Clarets recorded their first victory of the Premier League season as they beat the Bees 3-1 at Turf Moor. It was their 10th game of the campaign, and ended a winless run of 12 matches stretching back to the end of last term.
Burnley, on the day boss Sean Dyche reached nine years in charge at the club, netted three times without reply in the first half, through Wood, Matt Lowton and Maxwel Cornet.
Striker Wood told Burnley’s official website: “Our confidence was always high – I think in our group of lads, we know what we’re about, we know what we do. We’ve been here before, it’s nothing new.
“(But) of course, that first win is going to bring that little bit extra. It’s a tough game to go away to Chelsea next week, but it’s nice to have that win under our belt heading into that game.”
Wood lashed in the opener in the fourth minute, Matt Lowton added a header in the 32nd and Maxwel Cornet then struck to make it 3-0 four minutes later.
“I think our performances showed it’s coming and (against Brentford) it just all clicked in that first half,” Wood said.
“It showed what we can really do and what can happen if we do click. It was a fantastic performance.”
Cornet’s goal was his fourth in five league appearances since joining Burnley from Lyon in August.
Dyche said of Cornet: “We are still working on the other side of his game because obviously in the Premier League the ball in transition goes very quickly.
“We know he can attack, we know he can give us something different, we have seen that. The openness of the defending side still needs a bit of understanding, the fitness and the sharpness of the Premier League. It will come together, it just takes a little bit of time.”
Dyche also joked: “We have got to get some of his energy into his running rather than clapping the fans, he spends a lot of time clapping the fans but don’t worry I will knock that out of him as soon as I can.”
Brentford reduced the deficit via substitute Saman Ghoddos’ 79th-minute volley, but could not save themselves from falling to a third successive league defeat.
Boss Thomas Frank, whose side had won at Stoke in the Carabao Cup three days prior to the Burnley match, said: “I know it’s three losses in a row but I’m not too fussed about that to be fair, especially because the first (a 1-0 loss to Chelsea) was a very good performance.
“We are very analysing, calm, level-headed, and try to focus on what we can do better, make sure we hit a top performance mentally, physically and tactically on Saturday (against Norwich), and then we will be fine.”
Regarding goalkeeper Alvaro Fernandez, who made his Premier League debut in the absence of the injured David Raya, Frank said: “I think he played a decent game. He made a fantastic save in one situation, and for the three goals there was nothing he could do.
“There’s always really small details, but there was no mistakes. He will grow, he will learn and he will be even better.”