FARRELL REFLECTS ON OWLS DEFEAT

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U21s coach spoke after Tuesday’s loss against Sheffield Wednesday

2023-09-19T19:29:26.851Z

FARRELL REFLECTS ON OWLS DEFEAT

U21s coach spoke after Tuesday’s loss against Sheffield Wednesday

2023-09-19T19:29:26.851Z

U21s coach spoke after Tuesday’s loss against Sheffield Wednesday

Andy Farrell believes that fatigue got the better of his side and contributed to today’s 4-0 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday in the Professional Development League at the Burnley Training Centre.

The Clarets came through a gruelling 90 minutes on Friday in their 4-3 victory against Leicester City, and only had three days without a game before they were back in action on Tuesday.

The U21s made only two changes to the side that played in that high intensity Premier League Cup group tie, and Farrell stated that he saw the tiredness catch up with his players in the Owls loss.

He said: “In terms of the ball, we struggled to keep possession at times as Sheffield Wednesday are a strong athletic team, especially in the wider positions.

“I think Friday nights game against Leicester caught up with the boys, on that night the two at the back performed well, but I think this afternoon, the game caught up with them.

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“That was the biggest issue about Friday, the boys' energy levels were fantastic throughout, Leicester was another athletic team that our team was able to keep up with, but I think the intensity of that performance had an effect on us today."

Forward Joe Westley netted twice on Friday night, taking his tally for the season up to eight in all competitions.

And Farrell praised his energy levels in the game against the Owls, but also admitted his tiredness was clear to see at the end of the game, whilst also giving news on injured centre-back Dan Sassi.

He added: “Joe Westley has been getting into that final third, coming onto the ball and taking chances.

“He worked hard today, but we could see he was tired as were the players around him.

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“Hopefully Dan [Sassi] will be back for the Monday game against Wigan, and we can start rotating the boys so we can start to slowly build up their amount of game time, rather than being in a position like today, where we have struggled to rotate the squad.”

With the current standings of the Professional Development League seeing Burnley fifth and Wigan Athletic sitting only one place behind in sixth, next Monday’s game promises to be a tight affair.

But Farrell believes his side will take what they learnt from this loss, into the game against the Latics.

He finished by saying: “In preparation for Wigan we will reflect well and look over clips from today, in terms of our possession, the boys will be thinking about what they could have done better with the ball.

“For example, misplaced balls, not being in the correct spaces, and chasing the opposition down the pitch.

“Hopefully we will take that in for Monday and get back to normal with our pressing intensity, that we know we have in our locker.”