The Eagles boss could only watch in horror as an early mistake by Chung-yong Lee allowed Chris Wood to score the game’s decisive goal after just two minutes, and then saw his side carve out 23 opportunities but fail to convert any of them to claim the three points the Dutchman felt his team deserved.
Speaking post-match, he talked about:
Overall thoughts on the game: “I think everyone who was in the stadium or sitting behind the television would have seen that only one team deserved to win today, and that was us. That’s football and sometimes you don’t get what you deserve, but we can also blame ourselves for giving the goal away and not scoring our opportunities.”
Lee’s error: “Of course you don’t expect that. I had good confidence in the squad today but they didn’t start with that confidence and maybe that was shown in the goal we conceded, but after that we stood up and we played how we can play – sometimes with long balls and sometimes on the ground. I think we created a lot of chances and didn’t give anything away and controlled the game, but then you have to reward yourself.”
Wait for a Premier League goal: “We didn’t score and it’s unbelievable when you’ve seen this game, but I always think that the most important thing is that you play like this every week, and then you’ll get what you deserve and that’s points. Football is about getting goals, no doubt about it, and we have to do that better.”
Progress made today?: “I think so if you see how we controlled the game. Burnley are normally very difficult because of their style of play but I think we did quite well and came out of our shell. I cannot do anything more and we have to reward ourselves with the chances; normally if you get 10 chances and four or five open ones, then you have to score and if you don’t you’ll get punished.”
Speculation surrounding his future: “I’m focussing on what I can control and that was this. I will probably speak to Steve [Parish] on the phone tonight as we normally do, and I meet with him in the week. All I can do is work hard with the boys and I will do that until the end, and hopefully that will be a long time.”
Playing 4-3-3: “I saw a different spirit and the team fighting for each other with much more confidence. Hopefully we can continue like this but there will be games where we can swap back to five in the back, but they know this system and they showed they are more comfortable to play this system.”