Eddie Howe has defended Dan Burn following his poor display in Saturday’s 4-4 draw with Luton, explaining why he wasn’t taken off sooner.
He insists Burn played a “huge part” last season, where our defensive record was “excellent”, and reminded critics of his “magnificent” display at Aston Villa earlier this week.
Howe also explained that he was kept on to help cope with Luton’s height from set pieces, but accepts that they did get down our left side too easily, with the Chiedozie Ogbene causing chaos.
That said, Burn has struggled to cope with pace in a host of recent home games, with Nottingham Forest’s Anthony Elanga also targeting his lack of pace in their 3-1 win at St James’ Park on Boxing Day.
Here’s what Howe told the press when asked about Burn’s display and his decision to keep him on until Tino Livramento took his place in the 64th minute:
“Dan has been absolutely outstanding since he arrived at the football club. He played a huge part in our brilliant season last year and our excellent defensive record.
“Four days ago, I thought he was magnificent against Aston Villa. He was a big part of why we played so well.
“Tino is an outstanding player, and no doubt will have a huge bearing on our future. But as I said earlier, there’s more than one aspect of the game to think about when I pick the team.
“It’s never that clear cut. Luton are a really good team and we knew set-plays were going to be a huge threat, so we had to cover that. It’s not just one discipline. We conceded the first goal from a set-play.
“Yes, they were a threat down that right-hand side, and we didn’t deal with it well enough. That’s certainly something for us to focus and reflect on. But defensively all day, really, we were never totally secure.”
