Burnley and Everton supporters were stuck in a nightmare of a 0-0 draw at Turf Moor on Saturday. Both sides left the field wondering about the chances they didn’t take advantage of. The game surely wrote another beautiful chapter to the Premier League’s history. It marked Everton’s 112th such result, the most of any team in the tournament’s history. As Burnley’s head coach, Scott Parker, looks back on what might have been. Elsewhere, Everton manager David Moyes accepts responsibility for a woeful display from his side.
Fewer chances were conceded, but Burnley had many more to score too. They failed to register so much as one shot on goal, further illustrating their current struggle to find the net. The home team registered 16 shots on the day, but they failed to get on the scoresheet. A tough result to take, it’s the third time in Premier League history that Burnley have had 15 or more shots without finding the target. The only two previous times have been against Liverpool in December 2014 and West Brom in August 2017.
Missed Opportunities for Burnley
Scott Parker was understandably disappointed by the match result, calling it an opportunity missed for his side.
“I think that could probably be the case. We were well worthy of the three points today. We bought a real quality and endeavour to our game.” – Scott Parker
Burnley had a go and were pleasingly aggressive, but couldn’t make it count. Notably, Zian Flemming had a shot saved by Everton’s goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, and Beto squandered a promising opportunity when he failed to convert a cross from Tyler Dibling.
Parker’s optimism was tempered by his team’s failure to make the most of its opportunities. To his credit, he recognized that they only settled for two points. On that down note, he implored all to be hopeful about his players’ productivity.
“We’re managing it, it’s part of the job. Sometimes in management, you have to find ways of getting results and winning games with the players available to you. We didn’t win today, but hopefully it’ll end up being a good point.” – Scott Parker
Everton’s Underwhelming Performance
For Everton, the match poked and prodded their many failings this season. Toffees’ manager David Moyes would be the first to admit that his side didn’t do enough to deserve any more than a point.
“It wasn’t a particularly good one, but sometimes, you take a point when you don’t play well and we didn’t play well enough today to earn more than that.” – David Moyes
Everton had a number of obstacles to overcome going into this match. They were without influential new faces such as Illman Ndiaye and Idrissa Gueye, AFCON-bound, and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, out with injury. Even with these failures, they were able to earn a draw. This result maintains their current position of 11th place in their league table, just four points off the highly coveted Champions League positions.
Armando Broja started the match after scoring the equalizer against Bournemouth last week. Marcus Edwards soon followed suit, having set up Broja’s goal in that topsy-turvy match. Charly Alcaraz rustled Everton’s first effort on target. Sadly, his header went straight to the head of Burnley’s goalkeeper, Martin Dubravka.
Looking Ahead
Whether it’s City, Liverpool or another team, both sides will have to pick themselves up and look ahead as they both continue on in Premier League play. For Burnley, the priority will be finding ways to turn more of those chances into goals so they can move up the EPL table. Meanwhile, Everton will aim to improve their overall performance to solidify their position in the top half of the standings.
As they prepare for upcoming fixtures, both coaches will reflect on this match as an opportunity to learn and grow. The draw may not have been what either side desired, but it opens the door for future improvements and strategic adjustments as they continue their campaigns.
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