Burnley boss Dyche happy with performance in Europa League draw at Istanbul Basaksehir

Clarets boss Sean Dyche was pleased with a makeshift side's organisation and discipline as they claimed a usefiul goal-less draw at Istanbul Basaksehir in their Europa League third qualifying round first leg tie.
Sean DycheSean Dyche
Sean Dyche

Burnley were without the injured Steven Defour, Robbie Bradty and Tom Heaton, with Chris Wood back at home with an allergic reaction to an insect bite.

Anders Lindegaard aggravated a thigh problem, with Aaron Lennon nursing a tight hamstring, and Johann Berg Gudmundsson a stomach bug.

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But the Clarets will go back to Turf Moor for next Thursday's second leg feeling confident of progressing to the play-off round, where it is likely they will meet Olympiakos.

Dyche said: "I think overall, one of the more pleasing things is we had to bolt together a team and come somewhere like this where we've never been before and find a way of getting a result.

"And I think they've done that well overall.

"We knew they were a very technical side, when you look at the players they've got and where they've played in their careers, so we knew our shape would have to be good, we knew we;d have to work very hard, which we did, and then, when you look at some of the tactical performances, the two centre halves were very strong again...Joe (Hart) came in, don't forget he's been thrown into the deep end out of the blue, Jon Walters worked ever so hard on the right, which isn't natural for him to do all the time, and when you look at the respect of the players for themselves and the team, to put on a performance like that...

"You know, it's tough coming to a place like this, it's new to these lads, and we've come with 17 players - that's our lot.

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"So I'm really pleased, certainly with the shape and attitude, on a heavy, leg-sapping, old-fashioned pitch."

And, with the Premier League season kicking off on Sunday at Southampton, Dyche had to juggle his squad, while trying to get a good result: "We looked at the group and what we wanted to get out of it. Johann had a bit of a stomach bug, so we knew we'd get what we could out of him, and we only have three changes so we can't protect everyone, but we tried to balance a side out we still thought could be productive, but also try and balance the workload over the next few days.

"We were hoping to come to this competition with more fit players and with new signings. Although we've made those signings, Vyds is a bit behind the curve,and with Ben, we're okay at centre half, but we've brought him to be challenging and pushing.

"Overall, we've tried to find a balance between the workload, get a result, and still be protective enough to make sure we have enough fit players for Sunday."

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Burnley didn't have a shot on target, and had 28% possession, much to the chagrin of Besaksehir boss Abdullah Avcı, but Dyche was typically unconcerned about that statistic: "We knew it was a very technical team so we knew we had to be organised and work very hard without the ball, but we have to do that in the Premier League.

"We felt we could do that, but some of our more technical players are not available at the moment, so we had to put a team together that could still be productive.

"It's normal for us away in the Premier League, we often don't dominate the ball, less so away. Most clubs don't statistically dominate the ball away from home in the Premier League, so the basics, the shape, the energy, the will, is very important.

"We are missing some players as well, which adds into that. But as the World Cup showed, we've had 10 years of everyone saying possession wins - it doesn't, as the World Cup showed.

"It's less relevant now."

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And he praised the noisy following from Burnley, who sang their hearts out throughout the game: "I want to mention the fans, to bring so many was brilliant, long journey, their voice, the way they got behind the lads - absolutely brilliant."