Burns backs Foster on Fixture Schedule
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Dundalk captain Liam Burns has backed his manager Ian Foster and has asked for help from the FAI regarding the scheduling of fixtures, after he watched his side suffer their sixth defeat in nine outings in all competitions against Saint Patrick’s Athletic at Oriel Park on Sunday evening. Burns, whose last appearance was when Dundalk kept their last clean sheet 12 games ago in late May, is part of a squad which has been forced to play seven games in a 23-day period since the league resumed following the midseason break, including UEFA Europa League trips to Luxembourg and Bulgaria. And the experienced central defender says that the powers that be should reconsider their season schedule looking ahead to next year.
“What the manager is saying is correct,” Burns told dundalkfc.com. “If you look at our games, we have played six games in two weeks and that’s a lot on a small squad. The manager is looking for a little bit of help from the FAI maybe just to postpone one or two games. It’s something that has got to be looked at. They say the league is trying to improve our European status but they don’t seem to be helping us. If you look at our games in between the European games we’re playing league games – I can’t see why they can’t either extend the league to maybe the end of November or maybe instead of having two weeks off during the summer maybe just have one week off.
“I know where the manager is coming from,” he added. “He’s frustrated with the amount of games we’ve had and we’re looking for just a little bit of help off the league. The manager can only say so much and then he’ll get fined, but speaking from a player’s point of view, we’ve definitely played too many games. We were playing Monday-Friday for about four weeks, we had a week off and then we were playing Friday and midweek games, and after the break we were straight back in it playing in Europe. I think it’s something that the League has got to look at because the league is short this year and they’re trying to fit in as many games as possible. As I said before, maybe they should look at extending the league until the end of November and maybe shorten the break during the summer.”
Commenting on the defeat by St. Pat’s, Burns said: “We’re gutted. We wanted to make amends after the result on Thursday night in Sofia. We didn’t start well, but if you look over the game I think our ‘keeper had only one save to make. They scored three goals from set-pieces. We talked beforehand what their strengths were, and set-pieces were their strengths. It’s up to individuals to take responsibility in the box and unfortunately we didn’t do that tonight. It’s a massive concern; we’ve only had one league win in the last six, but the main concern is the goals we’re conceding and the amount of goals we’re considering. If you look at the goals, it is individual mistakes and we’ve got to look at ourselves and take responsibility, even though the team is very young, it’s important to start realising now that we’ve got to stand up now and be counted for.
“It’s a man’s game but at the moment we’re not standing up for ourselves,” he added. “We’ve got to be a lot stronger, not just physically but mentally, and it’s something that we’ve got to look at in the coming days. When you concede goals I think the first people you look at is defenders, but I think as a whole team we’re not defending properly, whether it’s set-pieces or general play. If you look at early on in the season where we were winning the ball, we were winning it high up the pitch and we were squeezing teams. Over the past couple of games I don’t think we’ve been doing that, so it’s another thing that we’ve got to look at. We’re looking over our shoulders now, but this is where it really counts, we don’t want to be in a relegation battle. One or two good results and we’ll be back up there, so we’re not looking at a relegation battle yet.”
Burns is closing in on a return to action following a serious abdominal injury which has sidelined him over the past two months, but the Belfast-native refused to nail down a particular date for his comeback. “I don’t really want to put a timescale on it,” he said. “There is nobody more frustrated than myself, especially when we’re not going through the best of times. Hopefully, I’ll be back running and doing a bit of rehab on it and strengthening up. Hopefully, I’ll be back as soon as possible, because, as I say, there’s nobody more disappointed than myself being out at the minute.”
“What the manager is saying is correct,” Burns told dundalkfc.com. “If you look at our games, we have played six games in two weeks and that’s a lot on a small squad. The manager is looking for a little bit of help from the FAI maybe just to postpone one or two games. It’s something that has got to be looked at. They say the league is trying to improve our European status but they don’t seem to be helping us. If you look at our games in between the European games we’re playing league games – I can’t see why they can’t either extend the league to maybe the end of November or maybe instead of having two weeks off during the summer maybe just have one week off.
“I know where the manager is coming from,” he added. “He’s frustrated with the amount of games we’ve had and we’re looking for just a little bit of help off the league. The manager can only say so much and then he’ll get fined, but speaking from a player’s point of view, we’ve definitely played too many games. We were playing Monday-Friday for about four weeks, we had a week off and then we were playing Friday and midweek games, and after the break we were straight back in it playing in Europe. I think it’s something that the League has got to look at because the league is short this year and they’re trying to fit in as many games as possible. As I said before, maybe they should look at extending the league until the end of November and maybe shorten the break during the summer.”
Commenting on the defeat by St. Pat’s, Burns said: “We’re gutted. We wanted to make amends after the result on Thursday night in Sofia. We didn’t start well, but if you look over the game I think our ‘keeper had only one save to make. They scored three goals from set-pieces. We talked beforehand what their strengths were, and set-pieces were their strengths. It’s up to individuals to take responsibility in the box and unfortunately we didn’t do that tonight. It’s a massive concern; we’ve only had one league win in the last six, but the main concern is the goals we’re conceding and the amount of goals we’re considering. If you look at the goals, it is individual mistakes and we’ve got to look at ourselves and take responsibility, even though the team is very young, it’s important to start realising now that we’ve got to stand up now and be counted for.
“It’s a man’s game but at the moment we’re not standing up for ourselves,” he added. “We’ve got to be a lot stronger, not just physically but mentally, and it’s something that we’ve got to look at in the coming days. When you concede goals I think the first people you look at is defenders, but I think as a whole team we’re not defending properly, whether it’s set-pieces or general play. If you look at early on in the season where we were winning the ball, we were winning it high up the pitch and we were squeezing teams. Over the past couple of games I don’t think we’ve been doing that, so it’s another thing that we’ve got to look at. We’re looking over our shoulders now, but this is where it really counts, we don’t want to be in a relegation battle. One or two good results and we’ll be back up there, so we’re not looking at a relegation battle yet.”
Burns is closing in on a return to action following a serious abdominal injury which has sidelined him over the past two months, but the Belfast-native refused to nail down a particular date for his comeback. “I don’t really want to put a timescale on it,” he said. “There is nobody more frustrated than myself, especially when we’re not going through the best of times. Hopefully, I’ll be back running and doing a bit of rehab on it and strengthening up. Hopefully, I’ll be back as soon as possible, because, as I say, there’s nobody more disappointed than myself being out at the minute.”
