Josh Brownhill insists Burnley will find Premier League footing sooner rather than later

Brownhill replaced Sander Berge at half-time during Saturday's 5-2 Turf Moor defeat at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur.

Three second-half Spurs goals put the game out of reach for Vincent Kompany's side before Brownhill netted an injury time consolation.

The 27-year-old said it was vital players kept their heads up when going behind in matches.

“In the first-half we showed a lot of good spells, especially to get ourselves ahead so early on," he said. "But they’re a good team with some very good players and when they get a chance they put it away. It’s very disappointing to be honest, because when we go a goal down or two goals down our heads go down. We need to get our heads up because there’s still a lot of the game left to play.

“When you’re playing against the good teams it’s hard to get anything from them and Tottenham have started this season very, very well and have recruited some good players.

“We’ve had a really tough start to the season. You go in there [the dressing room] and the lads are going to be down, rightfully so, because we didn’t put out our best performance.

“But it’s a long season, it’s a tough one. It’s completely different to last season, so we’ve got to stick with it, keep learning, but we’ve also got to take it up another level because this is what the Premier League is.

“There’s a little bit of a break now, which is a chance to relax and come back with a game against Forest, which is a big game for us where we’ll 100% be going out for the win.”

While he admitted the performance against Spurs wasn't good enough, Brownhill is confident the players will learn, and grow, from it.

“We’ve recruited some quality players, you can see it in spells. On the ball individually they’re very good.

“But sometimes it’s out of possession, it’s about reacting and doing things without the ball, but they’re going to learn.

“We’re new still. In the Championship you can get away with a little bit of a slow start because the quality isn’t as good, whereas here if you give the ball away, the next second you can be 1-0 down and 2-0 down.

“There’s some young lads in there and they’ll learn from this. It’s down to us experienced lads who have been here before to realise we’ve got to keep believing.”

Brownhill played a huge role in Burnley’s Championship title win last season, captaining the side for much of the campaign and making 48 appearances in all competitions, scoring seven times.

However, league opportunities have so far been limited this season. He started on the bench for the Premier League opener against Manchester City, coming on in the 89th minute, and was an unused sub in the defeat to Villa.

While happy to get on the scoresheet against Spurs; right now, the midfielder only cares about getting points on the board.

“It’s nice to score and contribute. I’m really happy for Lyle because that’s now two goals in the league. He’s a real quality player so hopefully he can continue that goalscoring form.

“The main thing was to win or at least get something from the game and we didn’t. I’m sure we’ll be disappointed but we’ve got to relax and move on, take the positives and remove the weaknesses.”

Burnley aren't in action again until Monday, September 18, when they travel down to Nottingham Forest. A win there would give them a huge boost ahead of games with Manchester United, Newcastle and Chelsea,” said Brownhill.

"We’ll come back with more of a hunger and try to forget about the first three games where we haven’t picked up any points.

“The teams we’ve played have been really tough. We’ve had City, Villa and now Spurs, who are top quality teams. But we’ve got to realise we’re a good team and stop conceding as many chances, while taking more when we’re going forward.

“I’ve got full belief in this team and the manager as well. There’s no reason why, after these defeats and when we come back, we put on some good performances and get three points.”