Owen Coyle did a remarkable job to guide Burnley into top flight last season when you consider his team played more matches than any other Championship club and he used the least number of players.
The likeable Scot has continued to work his magic in the Premier League, with the Clarets more than holding their own in 13th place despite having far and away the smallest budget in the division.
Burnley have been brilliant at fortress Turf Moor thus far, but one cause for concern for Coyle, however, is his side’s away form – with Saturday’s defeat at Portsmouth leaving the Clarets still searching for their first victory on the road.
Q: What did you make of your side's display at Fratton Park?
A: We were good enough to win on the day, if we’d taken our chances, but we didn’t and paid a heavy price for not. It’s as simple as that. If we’d have put ourselves in front, I have no doubts we would have gone on to win the game.
I can’t recall too many times when they got in behind us and cut us open, but they’re the margins in this league. You know that if you’re not going to finish them at one end, as we have done on the road, concede soft goals at the other, then you’re going to be punished.
Normally with performances results come with it, but we’ve dominated the game and ultimately lost.
Q: But, overall, you must be encouraged by the display?
A: Again, there were a lot of positives. Equally, we have to address the fact that it’s another game away from home that we have lost. That just adds fuel to the fire, and rightly so because you’re in the best league in the world, the coverage is everywhere, and we’ve made a rod for our own back with that.
Q: I guess it will be a big relief when that first away win comes?
A: The only way to sort it out is through hard work and giving the level of performance that we’re giving but, when those chances come, be clinical and take them. If we do that it will serve us well.
Q: Where do you stand on the debate over bringing technology into the game for penalties and goal-line decisions?
A: There will be times that we’ll look at penalties and you might watch it four or five times and have a different opinion on it. How long do you wait before someone makes a decision? And even then it might be the wrong one.
I’m certainly not for every contentious decision that happens because we’ve got the best game in the world and we’ve got it because it’s fast and free-flowing. But goal-line technology is certainly black and white. If the ball crosses the line it’s a goal, if it doesn’t it isn’t.
