Scott Parker loved ‘incredible’ thing Burnley did during Newcastle United defeat
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Newcastle United latest news: Scott Parker has reacted to his side’s Premier League defeat at St James’ Park.
Scott Parker was full of praise for his Burnley side, despite the Clarets slipping to a sixth-straight Premier League defeat at St James’ Park.
After starting the game strongly, Burnley were undone by a Bruno Guimaraes corner before their chances of getting back into the game took a hammer blow when Lucas Pires was sent off for fouling Anthony Elanga. When Anthony Gordon added a second from the penalty spot, it seemed that Burnley were destined to suffer yet another defeat.
However, a resilient second half performance almost ended with Burnley rescuing the most unlikely of draws as Zian Flemming’s stoppage time penalty gave them hope of a remarkable turnaround. Parker’s side, though, weren’t able to get that equalising goal and left Tyneside sat second-bottom of the Premier League table.
Scott Parker’s reaction to Newcastle United defeat
Burnley remain four points from safety having picked up ten points from their 15 league games to date. Parker, though, was pleased by elements of his side’s performance: “It was an incredible performance from us,” Parker told Match of the Day.
“That was probably our best performance of the season. A lot of learning has been done over the course of the season and today, how the dynamics of the game panned out, there were some hammer blows.
“We've had good performances but at times we have lacked a certain intensity to our game. We had to defend, we had to be gutsy, we got ourselves right back into the game and had a chance [to equalise] as well.
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“The biggest thing now is these players have set a bar [with this performance]. It's a young group that is developing. Today's performance is how I want us to look.”
Speaking to Sky Sports, Parker added: "Honestly, anyone coming here today and watching my team...there's a team there. The biggest thing is we need to do is back that up.
“We've just said we've put down a marker in terms of general all round performance. Today's performance was a top, top performance. We've gone toe-to-toe and we need to maintain that now.”
Eddie Howe previews Newcastle United games
Whilst not at their best, Newcastle United have taken ten points from a possible twelve in the Premier League since returning from the international break and sit just three points behind fourth-placed Chelsea in the Premier League table. A busy December steps up a notch this week, though, when they make the trip to Leverkusen for a huge Champions League league phase game.
They then return to the north east to visit local rivals Sunderland next Sunday before hosting Fulham in a Carabao Cup quarter final clash. Three days after that game with the Cottagers, they host Chelsea in what is set up to be a huge game in the race for European football.
"We've got a lot of massive games on the horizon,” Howe said. “We now go back to the Champions League.
“There are big incentives for us to do well in this game. Sunderland on the horizon will be a massive game.”