Burnley co-owner JJ Watt vents frustration as pressure mounts on Vincent Kompany

01 November 2023 , 21:35

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Burnley owner JJ Watt is not impressed with their season start (Image: Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)

Former NFL player and current Burnley owner JJ Watt has urged the team to "bounce back" after a disastrous start to the Premier League season.

Burnley have picked up just four points all season, winning one of their 10 league matches and losing eight. They are currently 19th in the Premier League, and only Sheffield United have picked up fewer points than them as they remain the only team in the division yet to win a game.

Manager Vincent Kompany was linked with the Tottenham job this summer after impressing with Burnley last season, as they finished top of the Championship with 101 points. Kompany brought a new style of football to Burnley but it hasn't worked so far in the Premier League, and Watt is keen for everything to come together, fast.

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Watt was a guest on The Pat McAfee Show, and opened up about Burnley's poor start to the season. The Clarets picked up their first and only win of the season on October 3 with a 2-1 away win against Luton Town, but lost the following three games against Chelsea, Brentford, and Bournemouth. "It was a frustrating one, it was certainly a frustrating one. The game against Brentford, I was frustrated with that one," Watt explained.

"But this one, we went up 1-0 and they put some pressure on and we didn’t handle it very well." Watt spoke ahead of Burnley's Round of 16 EFL Cup clash against Everton on Wednesday, and was keen for the midweek game to be their springboard for success. "We have a match in a couple of hours against Everton, so I’m really hoping we have a bounce back and we show some resiliency and resolve here." But instead Burnley slumped to a 3-0 defeat and were knocked out of the Carabao Cup.

"We’re 10 games in, we’ve got 28 games left so we’ve got time. We’re getting everything together, we’re building our chemistry, we’re understanding the style our coach wants us to play and we’re going to be just fine," Watt added. "He runs a very specific style of play and it takes guys a while to understand exactly what he’s asking and execute it." Burnley have the second-worst defence in the Premier League, but are also finding it difficult to score - finding the net just eight times.

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Kompany has gone from hero to zero this season

Watt made a name for himself as a defensive star in the NFL, and is particularly unhappy with Burnley's inability to keep clean sheets. "The defence, man, we’ve got to step it up on the defensive side," Watt added. Burnley were joined by Sheffield United and Luton in the Premier League, with the latter appearing in the division for the very first time. All three teams are currently in the relegation zone, meaning it could be an instant return to the Championship for the promoted sides.

The other struggling team is Bournemouth, who picked up a vital 2-1 win against Burnley in their last Premier League outing. The Cherries are the only other Premier League team outside of the newly-promoted sides yet to hit the 10-point mark, and are part of the early relegation battle.

Joseph McBride