04-10-2024, 18:45
Maccers Chat
There was a change of voice ahead of derby day against Burnley as assistant manager Stuart McCall sat down with club media for his first interview since joining North End.
The experienced player, manager and coach is loving his time so far at Deepdale with Paul Heckingbottom, and he’s been encouraged by the early signs of what he’s seen from the squad.
One thing he feels needs to be improved upon, though, is the away form, and that’s starting this weekend when they head to Turf Moor, to take on a Burnley side sat second in the league.
Stuart said: “I listened to their manager speak recently. They lost a few players naturally in the summer, and they brought a few younger ones in. They’ve got a good squad; there’s no doubt about that. They’re sat second for a reason.
“I think there’s probably more to come from them. They’ll get a couple of players back and the manager will really get his ways on them.
“But it’s a derby. It’s a game we’ve got to go and relish. We’ve got to improve our away performances, there’s no doubt about that, and there’s no better place to start than at Turf Moor.”
Stuart and Hecky got to know the Clarets well during their time at Sheffield United, as the two teams got promoted together in the 2022/23 season, before competing in the Premier League.
However, Burnley have a new-look squad with a different manager in the dugout, since the appointment of Scott Parker in the summer.
Stuart said: “We’ve got to make sure it’s going to be tough for them. I’ve watched their last couple of games there. They beat Portsmouth 2-1, beat Plymouth 1-0 and drew 1-1 at home to Blackburn, who were down to ten men.
“The thing with Burnley at the minute, although they might not have been at their best, they’ve found ways to win so we’ve got to be aware of that.
“We’re going into it in a good place. As much as we always respect the opponents and certainly do when you go to a place like Burnley, it’s about what we’ve got to do.
“We’ve got to show the same intensity. We’ve created more opportunities in the last two games than we’ve done since we’ve been in and that’s what we need to do. We need to be good without the ball, but we certainly need to be better on it as well.”
Since their arrival at the club, the manager and Stuart have taken charge of six league matches – with a return of two wins, two draws, and two defeats.
There was a great response to win 3-0 on home turf against Watford on Wednesday night following a disappointing outing in Millwall, and it’s hoped that’ll send the players across Lancashire with plenty of confidence.
Summing up what he’s seen so far, Stuart said: “Good and bad bits, without a doubt. That’s been typified in the last two games. Our poorest performance was against Millwall, in and out of possession really. The lack of intensity we showed and the flatness was disappointing.
“You get them on odd occasions throughout the season, but we’ve got to make sure that doesn’t happen too often. You can get beat and lose games, which we will, but there’s a manner to lose them and I just felt we were really flat.
“In contrast against a good Watford side, we showed a great desire and tenacity because we’ve seen a lot of Watford in previous games and they’ve created opportunities and they’ve got dangerous players. Although they had a couple of good one-on-ones where Freddie’s made really good saves, we’ve limited them to having some nice football without having lots of chances, where we’ve also created some big chances.
“Milly could have had four on another day. The ‘keeper’s made two really good saves from him, so it’s been promising. There’s naturally a lot of work still to do. We’ll hopefully look at this as a long-term project. The players are beginning to know what’s expected from them day in, day out.
“We’re always learning. We’re learning about them and I’m sure they’re still learning about us. I think they’re getting a grasp of what we accept and what we won’t accept, and what’s needed to be successful.”
Parker
Clarets boss looks ahead to Saturday's meeting with North End
Head Coach Scott Parker is more than pleased with how his side have fared in the opening eight fixtures, but admits there is still more to come from his team, ahead of Saturday's Sky Bet Championship encounter with Preston North End at Turf Moor.
The Clarets take on the Lilywhites in the lunchtime kick-off and Parker's side will be looking to extend their unbeaten record in the league to six matches, as well as continuing their unbeaten home form.
Speaking to the media ahead of the weekend, Parker said: "Look, we're in a really good place, we're winning games and I'm really happy with the team and how they have developed, but there is more to come from this team.
"There's always room for improvement, whether it be before the season starts or with one game of the season left, things evolve and change and there's always ways you can get better.
"We've lost one game this season, we're showing real signs of threat and you could see that on Tuesday, but overall I'm more than pleased with where we are and the boys have been first class."
Saturday will see Burnley host Preston in the second Lancashire derby of the 2024/25 campaign and Parker is relishing another taste of a local rivalry fixture at Turf Moor.
"I understand derbies and rivalries and what they mean. I have been involved in many and we face another this weekend, we all understand what games like this mean to the fan base.
"This weekend will be no different, 12:30 kick-off, a packed out Turf Moor and we will be prepared for what's to come."
The Clarets have only conceded four goals in the Championship this season, which is the second lowest in the entire league and Parker had high praise for his defenders.
"They've been amazing, that back four at the moment is a really young back four. Bash (Humphreys) playing at right-back, who is left footed and he's done incredible. Young CJ (Egan-Riley) hasn't played a lot last season and he has been rock solid.
"Lucas (Pires) has come to a new country, a new life and he has been fantastic, then Maxi (Esteve) next to him has been terrific."
When asked on for an update on Zian Flemming and Connor Roberts, Parker explained: "He (Roberts) will be in and around it. He trained today, but we will make a decision tomorrow on him.
"Same as Connor, Flemming trained today, but I think tomorrow will be a bit clearer for us."
There was a change of voice ahead of derby day against Burnley as assistant manager Stuart McCall sat down with club media for his first interview since joining North End.
The experienced player, manager and coach is loving his time so far at Deepdale with Paul Heckingbottom, and he’s been encouraged by the early signs of what he’s seen from the squad.
One thing he feels needs to be improved upon, though, is the away form, and that’s starting this weekend when they head to Turf Moor, to take on a Burnley side sat second in the league.
Stuart said: “I listened to their manager speak recently. They lost a few players naturally in the summer, and they brought a few younger ones in. They’ve got a good squad; there’s no doubt about that. They’re sat second for a reason.
“I think there’s probably more to come from them. They’ll get a couple of players back and the manager will really get his ways on them.
“But it’s a derby. It’s a game we’ve got to go and relish. We’ve got to improve our away performances, there’s no doubt about that, and there’s no better place to start than at Turf Moor.”
Stuart and Hecky got to know the Clarets well during their time at Sheffield United, as the two teams got promoted together in the 2022/23 season, before competing in the Premier League.
However, Burnley have a new-look squad with a different manager in the dugout, since the appointment of Scott Parker in the summer.
Stuart said: “We’ve got to make sure it’s going to be tough for them. I’ve watched their last couple of games there. They beat Portsmouth 2-1, beat Plymouth 1-0 and drew 1-1 at home to Blackburn, who were down to ten men.
“The thing with Burnley at the minute, although they might not have been at their best, they’ve found ways to win so we’ve got to be aware of that.
“We’re going into it in a good place. As much as we always respect the opponents and certainly do when you go to a place like Burnley, it’s about what we’ve got to do.
“We’ve got to show the same intensity. We’ve created more opportunities in the last two games than we’ve done since we’ve been in and that’s what we need to do. We need to be good without the ball, but we certainly need to be better on it as well.”
Since their arrival at the club, the manager and Stuart have taken charge of six league matches – with a return of two wins, two draws, and two defeats.
There was a great response to win 3-0 on home turf against Watford on Wednesday night following a disappointing outing in Millwall, and it’s hoped that’ll send the players across Lancashire with plenty of confidence.
Summing up what he’s seen so far, Stuart said: “Good and bad bits, without a doubt. That’s been typified in the last two games. Our poorest performance was against Millwall, in and out of possession really. The lack of intensity we showed and the flatness was disappointing.
“You get them on odd occasions throughout the season, but we’ve got to make sure that doesn’t happen too often. You can get beat and lose games, which we will, but there’s a manner to lose them and I just felt we were really flat.
“In contrast against a good Watford side, we showed a great desire and tenacity because we’ve seen a lot of Watford in previous games and they’ve created opportunities and they’ve got dangerous players. Although they had a couple of good one-on-ones where Freddie’s made really good saves, we’ve limited them to having some nice football without having lots of chances, where we’ve also created some big chances.
“Milly could have had four on another day. The ‘keeper’s made two really good saves from him, so it’s been promising. There’s naturally a lot of work still to do. We’ll hopefully look at this as a long-term project. The players are beginning to know what’s expected from them day in, day out.
“We’re always learning. We’re learning about them and I’m sure they’re still learning about us. I think they’re getting a grasp of what we accept and what we won’t accept, and what’s needed to be successful.”
Parker
Clarets boss looks ahead to Saturday's meeting with North End
Head Coach Scott Parker is more than pleased with how his side have fared in the opening eight fixtures, but admits there is still more to come from his team, ahead of Saturday's Sky Bet Championship encounter with Preston North End at Turf Moor.
The Clarets take on the Lilywhites in the lunchtime kick-off and Parker's side will be looking to extend their unbeaten record in the league to six matches, as well as continuing their unbeaten home form.
Speaking to the media ahead of the weekend, Parker said: "Look, we're in a really good place, we're winning games and I'm really happy with the team and how they have developed, but there is more to come from this team.
"There's always room for improvement, whether it be before the season starts or with one game of the season left, things evolve and change and there's always ways you can get better.
"We've lost one game this season, we're showing real signs of threat and you could see that on Tuesday, but overall I'm more than pleased with where we are and the boys have been first class."
Saturday will see Burnley host Preston in the second Lancashire derby of the 2024/25 campaign and Parker is relishing another taste of a local rivalry fixture at Turf Moor.
"I understand derbies and rivalries and what they mean. I have been involved in many and we face another this weekend, we all understand what games like this mean to the fan base.
"This weekend will be no different, 12:30 kick-off, a packed out Turf Moor and we will be prepared for what's to come."
The Clarets have only conceded four goals in the Championship this season, which is the second lowest in the entire league and Parker had high praise for his defenders.
"They've been amazing, that back four at the moment is a really young back four. Bash (Humphreys) playing at right-back, who is left footed and he's done incredible. Young CJ (Egan-Riley) hasn't played a lot last season and he has been rock solid.
"Lucas (Pires) has come to a new country, a new life and he has been fantastic, then Maxi (Esteve) next to him has been terrific."
When asked on for an update on Zian Flemming and Connor Roberts, Parker explained: "He (Roberts) will be in and around it. He trained today, but we will make a decision tomorrow on him.
"Same as Connor, Flemming trained today, but I think tomorrow will be a bit clearer for us."
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