Nicky Hayen discusses the challenge of changing Burnley's 'mindset'
· Matt Scrafton · 2026-08-13T05:11:03+00:00 · nguồn gốc
Nicky Hayen discusses the challenge of changing Burnley's 'mindset'
Nicky Hayen admits it’s not an easy task changing the “mindset” of his Burnley side.
While the new Clarets boss was pleased with bits of what he saw from Saturday’s season opener against Notts County, he knows there’s still plenty of improvements to be made.
Burnley struggled to create clear-cut chances, producing just one shot on target during the first half against League One opposition.
It was also noticeable that, after a promising start, the Clarets fell back into their old habits of playing too safe, opting to pass sidewards and backwards rather than forwards.
The wingers, meanwhile, were too predictable in cutting in from the flanks, which often resulted in them losing the ball as they ran into the crowded central areas.
When asked if the wingers cutting inside was a deliberate tactic, Hayen told the Burnley Express: “No, we want to mix it up, of course. There's a dynamic rotation that we actually want.
“But it's totally new from last season. If you did something for two years [under Scott Parker], it's not always easy to change your mindset immediately.
“You see already players that are into it and they do quite good things. But again, you have to do it for 95 minutes long.
“Don't hide yourself, make yourself available, take responsibility. We win together, we lose together and we're not finger-pointing to someone because at the end we're one team.
“That's also the team that we want to show to our fans.”
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When asked how long it’s likely to take to have his fingerprints on the team, Hayen added: “We see already some good things. Day after day we keep on working.
“But if you see I'm now here for four weeks from the stage until now and we see already a lot of improvement. But it takes time.
“I'm a guy who also reads a lot. Even after two years, still not all my players know the principles that I want to do, so you need time. I know in football you don't have time because you need results, but what we can do is we work really hard.
“We work every day on the principles to score more goals, to concede less goals, to be dominant, to be ready for every situation.
“But of course you only have 24 hours in a day and we try to use them as good as possible. But of course we need time.”