Striker disappointed with defeat but emphasises importance of moving forward together
Jay Rodriguez described feeling gutted following Burnley’s defeat to Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon.
Two goals were difficult to take for the striker, who made his first league start for the Clarets since January.
Talking after the game, Rodriguez said: “Yes, obviously gutted. We know Palace are a good side, I thought we dominated the game but to come away 2-0 is disappointing. We have to debrief now, try and pick positives and pick ourselves up and go again. Keep working, stick together as a group and that’s the main thing.”
Despite many positives it was a tough result to swallow as the home side were punished by two goals in each half.
“That’s it you know, they set up to do what they do, and they’ve got good individuals, and like I say in the Premier League you get punished.
“It’s a difficult one to take at this moment in time but I think that the overall thing is we stick together as a group, and we keep working forward.”
Yet to pick up a win at home, Rodriguez spoke about the importance of working hard to turn things around and is full of belief that positive times are ahead.
“I think throughout my career, I’ve had to, the manager touched on it as well and it’s really important, it’s to never get too high or too low in these situations. If you’re consistently doing what you need to do which is work hard, everything for the team and keep doing the right things – you know you’re hopeful that it will turn round. So, I’ll not change from that and hopefully we don’t as a group and as much as it feels low now, I think hopefully we’ll have many more where we feel high.”
The experienced pro, after featuring midweek against Everton in the EFL Cup and making his first start in the league since January, is feeling good within himself and is hopeful that his years of experience can help the younger players navigate the challenges of the top-flight.
“Yes of course, I’m feeling great and hopefully my experience can help the younger players. Hopefully I can be ready for the team whenever needed. I feel good, it’s obviously nice to start a game but to come off the game with a loss is not great but I’ll just keep myself ready, keep working hard, keep my head down, that’s all I’ve done in my whole career.”
The gruelling Premier League schedule continues with a trip to the Emirates up next for the Clarets, and Rodriguez is fully focussed on heading to the capital with belief.
“You know we have to go there and believe we’re going to win, or there’s no point turning up. We know they’re a great side, a really good team, great players but we’ve got to be able to put ourselves upon them, affect the game and try and take three points and that’s what we’ll go and do and plan for this week.”
