Sean Dyche has stressed the importance of Burnley following up their dramatic victory over Everton by showing they can “deliver” again at Norwich this weekend.
Maxwel Cornet’s 85th-minute goal completed a 3-2 come-from-behind win for the Clarets against relegation rivals Everton at Turf Moor on Wednesday.
Ending a run of four straight defeats, they moved up to 18th in the Premier League as the gap to the 17th-placed Toffees closed to a point.
Burnley now take on bottom-placed Norwich at Carrow Road on Sunday, and boss Dyche said at his pre-match press conference: “We’ve shown we have a strong jaw over many seasons in the Premier League, we’ve shown we can handle situations, we’ve shown we can deliver.
“But just because you show it, doesn’t guarantee the next one – you have to keep showing it. You have to keep maintaining high standards in training and high focus when you go out on the pitch. That’s the demand of the job.
“We have got a pretty rounded group here, so they understand it, and these are helpful things, but they don’t guarantee anything – you have to go out and deliver.”
Dyche added: “These are tough games, the ‘hard yards’ as (England rugby union boss) Eddie Jones terms it when I speak to him.
“He always says it’s the hard yards, and that’s important over a season – doing the hard graft, the miles, the details, putting in the mental and prep effort, players giving up a lot at this time of the season to zone in and give everything to the cause.
“We do have experience of that, of tough times and how to handle that, but it doesn’t define the whole season just because you’ve got experience – it’s about going out there and delivering performances every time the whistle blows.
“It was a tight one the other night, we got on the right side of it, showed a really solid mentality, and that’s got to be the same for the remaining nine games.
“The last one doesn’t give you the next one, so we’ve got to go down to Norwich and perform well again, and actually add to a performance the details I think are relevant.”
Dyche explained that he met Jones at a Leaders in Sport event, and said: “We just text each other, not major stuff. I’ve had dinner with him.
“It’s just sharing thoughts. Not just him, there’s lots of other people I speak to in other sports. Player motivation, recoveries, mindset, environment setting, culture setting, it’s more that sort of stuff.
“It’s not about tactics because I don’t know anything about rugby and I’m sure he doesn’t know anything about football.
“The Leaders in Sport bring a group of coaches together from varying sports – ice hockey, basketball, American football, Sir Dave Brailsford was there, Roy Hodgson – (they) have a pow-wow, and some people you just connect with and have a few messages with and stuff.”
Wednesday’s result was a seventh defeat in nine league games for Everton since Frank Lampard took charge at the Merseyside outfit.
Asked if he had any advice for Lampard, Dyche said: “I don’t think he needs advice, I wouldn’t patronise any manager with advice. What I would say is he’ll find his way, that’s the job.
“It’s not always easy, but whatever players you’ve got, whatever the noise is around, focusing on the job. I’m sure he’s wise enough to do that. It’s tough, the league’s tough, he knows it, I know it.”
Skipper Ben Mee (fibula) and fellow defender Erik Pieters (knee) remain unavailable for Sunday’s match but could possibly be involved against West Ham the following weekend.
Midfielder Dale Stephens earlier this week was fined more than £3,500 and banned from driving for 12 months after pleading guilty to a charge of driving a vehicle with alcohol above the legal limit.
Asked about that, Dyche said: “That’s life. Players live a life away from here.
“We try to give them good advice about their life in here, but when they go away from here, they’re adults, they live their life accordingly. That’s life – he held his hands up, took what’s coming, and get on with life.”
