Duff: Burnley aren't a bad team overnight

1:00pm Wednesday 20th August 2008

Comments (7)   Have your say »

DEFENDER Michael Duff has insisted Burnley can recover from their poor start to the season and move away from the foot of the Championship table.

The Clarets have conceded seven goals in their first two league games, after ending the previous campaign with a 5-0 thrashing at this weekend’s opponents Crystal Palace.

Duff would be forgiven for feeling cursed by the Eagles, for it was in the meeting at Turf Moor that he suffered multiple knee ligament damage and was ruled out for almost all of the remainder of the campaign. He made his comeback in the return fixture in May, when the Clarets were roundly beaten.

But the Northern Ireland international has stressed he and his team-mates are ready to exact a revenge mission at Selhurst Park.

“The first two games have been disappointing, but it’s important not to get too low,” he said.

“We have a point to prove on a couple of fronts.

"Firstly, there’s the two results, then the Palace game from the back end of last season is still relatively fresh in the mind as well.

“It’s important that we don’t get too down on ourselves because we’ve not become a bad team overnight.

“We just need to try to address a couple of things.”

Burnley’s results so far have been uncharacteristic of their pre-season form, as Owen Coyle’s men went into the 2008-09 campaign on a confidence-boosting run of six consecutive wins.

But Duff is confident they can repair the damage.

“This is why people can’t get carried away in pre-season,” said the 30-year-old.

“It’s all about getting fit, and that’s all that matters. It went well and we came through without any injuries.

“The two results are the most important thing and they haven’t gone our way.

“But we’ve got enough characters in the dressing room to recover.”

Duff has a welcome distraction from the pressures of the Championship this week as he is involved with the Northern Ireland squad for the first time since suffering the horror knee injury in September, just over two weeks after his last international appearance, in the Euro 2008 qualifier defeat in Iceland.

And after paving his road to recovery with targets, the former Cheltenham stopper says his rehabilitation will be fully complete when he earns his next international cap.

“My priority was to play for Burnley and then focus on Northern Ireland,” said Duff, ahead of tonight’s friendly with Scotland at Hampden Park, in which Clarets team-mates Martin Paterson and Graham Alexander are also expected to feature, albeit in opposing camps.

“I wasn’t expecting to be called up so quickly after only playing a few games, but the manager, Nigel Worthington, has phoned me three or four times while I’ve been out to keep me informed on things and to follow how my rehabilitation’s been going and he’s decided to have a look at me.

“He hasn’t spoken to me on my own as such, he just said he was pleased to have me back and it’s business as usual.

“It’s nice to be back, and good to see everybody again.

“There are a couple of new faces but the majority are the same.

“You get quite pally with a lot of the lads because you spend so much time together (on internationals), living in each others pockets for a few days.”

He added: “It’s a good game to have, and even closer than a lot of home games we have in the league.

“I’m not expecting to start because I’m still just coming back from the injury. I’m just happy to be in the squad.

“If I’m not starting, I’m just hoping to get on and get another cap and then it’s just a case of building from that.

“I’m just trying to get as many games as I possibly can, but that’s the final box to be ticked.”