BEN Mee admits Burnley haven’t been good enough at defending set-pieces this season, but the centre-back revealed new rules around grappling in the penalty area have created confusion.

The Clarets were twice undone from set-pieces in the 3-1 defeat at Southampton, having also conceded from a corner in the last-second reverse to Arsenal.

Burnley’s consolation goal at St Mary’s came from the spot after Mee had won a penalty for an infringement from a corner and officials have promised to crackdown on penalty box wrestling this season.

Last season’s champions Leicester City have been profligate from set-pieces this season and Danny Simpson said the new rules had played a part in that.

Mee believes there has been confusion around what is allowed now, but ultimately said the Clarets accept they haven’t been good enough at defending set-pieces so far.

“There’s been a lot made about it. There was a lot of confusion coming in to the season,” he said.

“Referees were coming in and all of a sudden they were being really scrutinised with what was going on. It was a bit bizarre.

“The bottom line is that we haven’t been good enough at defending set-pieces and we need to get better at that no matter what the rules are.”

When Premier League clubs received a visit from refereeing chiefs before the start of the season players were informed that there was going to be a crackdown on rough-housing in the area.

But rather than clearing the issue up it has only added to the confusion, and the number of penalties awarded for such infringements appears to have reduced after several incidents early in the season, with two penalties given in the Stoke City-Manchester City match in August for tussling in the box.

“There’s a lit bit of uncertainty,” said Mee.

“We were shown a few videos in pre-season about what you can and can’t do. Then, all of a sudden, you can’t do anything. It needs clearing up a bit more.”

Mee admits that for central defenders physical contact in the area from corners comes second nature and it is something they will have to work on to eradicate completely, although he has no issues with some of the more obvious penalties awarded for infringements.

“Pulling a shirt is a penalty all day long and I don’t think any of us did that anyway,” he said.

“Other players are a bit more physical and aggressive towards fouling a player.

“You do see it a lot and sometimes you don’t even realise that you’re doing it. A lot of players do it without thinking and that can cause some problems I guess.”