"Trying too hard" - Scott Parker drops "naive" Burnley FC claim after Derby County draw | OneFootball

The Clarets were held to a 0-0 draw at Turf Moor on Tuesday against the Rams.

Scott Parker believes that his Burnley FC side tried "too hard" against Derby County in their 0-0 draw at Turf Moor on Tuesday evening.

The Clarets started and ended the day in third place in the Championship and many would have expected them to have eased past the Rams following their poor 2-0 defeat to Leeds United at the weekend.

However, Paul Warne's side stood resolute in Lancashire and ensured that they stopped their run of three defeats in a row. For Burnley, however, it was their fifth 0-0 draw of the season, and it has been this lack of goals that has seen them struggle in the battle with Sheffield United and the Whites at the top of the table.

Parker makes Burnley verdict following Derby draw

It was yet another frustrating evening for Clarets supporters, with their team once again flattering to deceive in front of goal. They were defensively solid and limited Derby to very few chances but a failure to properly challenge their opponents going forward ensured that the Rams were able to hold out.

Burnley had 14 shots on Tuesday, with five of these coming from outside the box, but they only found the target four times, and it proved to be a relatively comfortable evening for Warne's team, despite the possession that the home side had throughout the game.

Following the final whistle, Parker acknowledged that his players did well throughout, but lacked a cutting edge in the final moments.

"I can’t fault my players for endeavour. If anything, they’re trying too hard," he started. "They’re making decisions that are wrong out of pure desperation to try to score a goal and try to win the game – it’s naive on our behalf.

"It may just be the fact it’s a young group, some of whom have not experienced this. This is a rollercoaster of a Championship and for sure we need to get a little bit better at it.

"We’re gutted really. We’re disappointed tonight. We came here with one aim – to win the game – and we just fell a little bit short. Credit to Derby, they’ve come here and done a really good job."

Parker continued: "We just lacked a little bit in the final third in certain moments of our decision-making. You get one goal and maybe the game opens up, but we fell a little bit short on that really.

"We had some good opportunities in the first half when the game was open. You get a goal then and maybe the game looks a little bit different.

"But the longer the game goes on, the anxiety around the stadium reflected that on the pitch for us and we start making poor decisions out of pure desperation."

Burnley were too wasteful with the ball

Derby went into the game off the back of three defeats on the bounce and they may have expected to be put under the cosh a lot more but Burnley allowed them to reset into their shape too easily, and they were not punished when they lost the ball.

Rams fans will be the first to admit that their team are not the best in possession but they do have a very solid backline and they were ready for an onslaught that did not come until the final 15 minutes of the game.

Warne set up his team with three centre-backs and this solidity proved too much for the Clarets to overcome but their patterns of play were too similar and Derby were able to guess what was coming next because of that.

The substitution of Luca Koleosho late in the second half did change the game slightly, with the winger causing Callum Elder a lot of issues on the right flank, but it was a move that took too long to come.