JACKSON: TIME TO TIGHTEN UP

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Defensive slips prove costly as Clarets denied first win

2021-08-23T22:17:24.867Z

JACKSON: TIME TO TIGHTEN UP

Defensive slips prove costly as Clarets denied first win

2021-08-23T22:17:24.867Z

Clarets claim victory in final PL2 fixture of 2021

Michael Jackson is looking for his side to tighten things up after suffering another second-half setback.

The U23s shipped three second-half goals for the second game running to lose 3-2 to Sunderland.

The latest lapse turned a 2-0 half-time lead into a second successive defeat to start the season at PL2 level.

And Jackson is looking for a collective improvement across his team.

“I keep seeing at these levels really poor goals. When I watch a lot of the games back, I don’t see a lot of good defending. They are still learning the art of defending when they defend,” said the Clarets’ U23 boss.

“It’s the consistency to be able to do it, which comes from time, but you’ve got to learn from those mistakes.

“When you boil it all down, we’ve conceded a goal from our own corner, a goal from a corner and one from playing the ball inside, which we’ve done twice now and that’s a no.”

The Clarets deservedly led at the break through Richard Nartey’s close-range finish and a Max Thompson penalty.

But they were unable to maintain their grip after the break and having let Sunderland back into the contest at Leyland, missed a number of chances – notably from set-pieces – to nip the visitors’ comeback in the bud.

“I thought we were excellent in the first half. We played at a really good intensity and a good tempo and then we lose big Rob (Harker),” added Jackson, whose side conceded two goals to former Burnley teenager Vinnie Steels and a late headed winner from Sunderland skipper Sam Wilding.

“We knew there would be some sort of reaction. You know when you’ve done that to a team in the first half, you know they are going to come out and have a go at you.

“But you’ve got to be willing then to go to that next level again.

“We probably had two or three more occasions to win the game but if you don’t take them, which we didn’t, you get punished for them. You’ve got to learn quickly.

“When you concede a goal in the first five minutes of the second half the other team gets a bit of a lift and that gave them the lift they needed.

“If we go another 10 or 15 minutes then we probably see them game out comfortably.

“I was really pleased with the first half but the second half became a bit open, like a game of basketball which we weren’t pleased with, and the goals are poor from our point of view.

“But there’s always another game to go to. It’s never final. That’s what you have to deal with. You get back on the road and you go again.”

The U23s are back in action on Friday night with a trip to Newcastle United to precede the two-week international break.