Burnley vs Bournemouth. Premier League.
Turf MoorAttendance19,713.
Match report and free highlights as Burnley failed to boost their survival hopes by losing 2-0 at home to Bournemouth; goals from Justin Kluivert and Antoine Semenyo won it for the Cherries; Vincent Kompany was not happy with a disallowed Burnley goal for Josh Cullen
Sunday 3 March 2024 17:04, UK
Vincent Kompany described the lack of consistency among Premier League referees as "laughable" as his Burnley side were controversially denied an equaliser in their 2-0 home loss to Bournemouth.
Goals at opposite ends of the game from Justin Kluivert and Antoine Semenyo gave Bournemouth their first win in 2024 but Burnley were denied a Josh Cullen equaliser in the second half, which was ruled out for a push in the build-up by Jacob Bruun Larsen.
In his interview to Sky Sports after the game, Kompany compared the incident to the goal that was allowed to stand as Luton equalised late at Turf Moor in January despite a contentious push on Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford.
However, Kompany failed to completely blame the officials as his wasteful Burnley side had over 75 per cent possession and 20 shots on the Bournemouth goal without scoring.
"I want to put my point across in a calm way and not be frustrated. But there's a real lack of consistency we need to look at," he said.
"I understand there's a call on the push and I understand the interpretation aspect that comes back, but obviously in an important game for us at home against Luton, there's a similar push to our goalkeeper which is not deemed to be a foul, but then there's a push today in what is an important goal which is deemed to be a foul.
"There's no foul on the push against Luton, there's a foul on our push us in this game. And it lines up in very important moments."
Kompany also complained about Burnley not being given a penalty for a foul on Wilson Odobert by Alex Scott in the second half. "I have no issues with that nor the conclusion that it's not a penalty - but then we concede a penalty at Aston Villa just as soft of a touch. And it cost us," he said.
"I'm calm about it, but it's just not been good enough. Part of the things that happen as well with us, and I don't know if it was the case today, but in most of our games we end up with the junior referees. Which is normal as you need to bleed them in the league.
"But most of the times it happens against us. When you bleed a referee at Aston Villa away, Newcastle away and these type of fixtures, that side of it we have not been able to be on the good side of it.
"And then the rest, we look at ourselves, we look at the chances and we couldn't score. We could have defended better and got punished. And that's completely on us of course."
Pushed more on the refereeing standards, Kompany said: "It is becoming a drag, it's almost laughable. It's happening and I do understand for the first time what it is to not have an institution that the big clubs behind them. For us, we need to fight for everything we get. It's part of the job."
The result means Burnley have lost 11 out of their 14 home games this season and remain 11 points away from safety with just 11 games remaining.
While the Clarets moved a step further towards Championship football next season, Bournemouth can sit on an 11-point gap above the bottom three - all but sealing their survival.
In a must-win game for them, Burnley started the brighter and their sharp right-hand side nearly saw an opener as Lorenz Assignon cut the ball back to Odobert, who could only fire straight at Neto.
But as often has been the case for Burnley, their defence let them down. They were given a warning as Charlie Taylor had to clear from under his bar under pressure from Semenyo - but the opener came on 13 minutes.
A harmless Lewis Cook long ball bounced in the Burnley box and Kluivert pounced on it, turned past Dara O'Shea and smashed past James Trafford.
Burnley were not disheartened by the early setback and created 13 shots in the first half. Maxime Esteve miskicked a close-range effort from a corner, while Vitinho and Odobert fired harmlessly wide. And the Clarets' best chances came towards the end of the half.
Bruun Larsen's direct free-kick brought a brilliant stop from Neto, which the Goal Decision System revealed was inches away from crossing the line. In first-half stoppage time, Vitinho headed over Charlie Taylor's cross when David Datro Fofana was in a better position behind him.
Despite Burnley having the better of the first half, Bournemouth started the second period much better and should have made it two on two occasions.
First, Kluivert was released on the break and fed top scorer Dominic Solanke in the box. The angle was tight but Trafford did well to parry the effort. Then Kluivert was at it again as his crossfield ball was touched on by Semenyo and Marcus Tavernier fired into the side netting from close range.
Cullen then curled straight at Neto and the same Burnley midfielder thought he had an equaliser when he tapped home from close range - but Bruun Larsen, who headed the ball onto him, was penalised for a foul on Smith.
That was Burnley's last big chance for an equaliser as Bournemouth cruised to a result. Semenyo put two big chances wide of goal when played through by Solanke - he would not be denied a result-sealing effort on 88 minutes.
The excellent Cook played the winger in down the right and he kept his composure to fire into the net - something Burnley had failed at dismally all afternoon.
Burnley manager Vincent Kompany to Sky Sports:
"In reality, the only thing that should play a part is we missed our chances. I would be really happy to speak about that and at the end, football is this way. And on the first goal we conceded, it's a goal we can't concede.
"It's completely fair to want the responsibility for that, to look for solutions and to try to develop, improve and get more wins.
"I don't want to single anyone out. A lot has been made about the type of goal we can concede, but when you're in our position of the league, it can come from anything. The energy was there, the character was there, we put in challenges and we gave Bournemouth a huge problem today. But they will leave happy and fair play to them.
"We had a wobble in the game at Palace in not being able to align the energy and the performance. Today we didn't have that issue at all. The energy was high and we looked like a team who can win this game.
"We have to keep going, I normally talk about us having a reset button. It normally takes me a night but today it takes five minutes. I'm ready to go again, I want this team to get what it deserves."
Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola to Sky Sports:
"We were disappointed with the performance in first half, the second half we were there with much more energy, much more dangerous than before. They continued to press us, push us and put pressure on us. This is the game we expected. But we were much better in the second half as we were late to everything in the first.
"To play against Burnley is not easy, they have a lot of the ball and they keep their goalkeeper high so if you want to press them, you have to spend a lot of energy pressing high. Because we got the goal so early, we didn't want to press so high. The second half we dealt with the threat much better and we did what was required.
"It was a relief as in the last few games we were in a similar position when we scored early and then we lost some valuable points at the end of the game. When you score, you finally think it's going to be the end of the day.
"We didn't play so well but we ended up winning it. So sometimes you have to know how to win this kind of games. I hope we can keep this confidence, trying to improve our level. We need to improve our level at home.
"We still need points. It was important to come here and score goals and win games, but we still need more points and wins. The sooner we get them, the better and the more chances we leave us at the end of the season."
Sky Sports' Sam Blitz:
On the way up for the 300-mile round trip to Burnley, Bournemouth fans were likely sweating over the fitness of Dominic Solanke. On the way back, they will be wondering why they worried in the first place.
Yes, the 26-year-old was an important focal point up front at times but watched on as his team-mates created their two goals at Burnley without him. Sunday's win showed is more to Bournemouth than Solanke.
Recent games showed an over-reliance on the Cherries forward. When he scores, Bournemouth pick up points. When he doesn't, they lose.
In fact, Solanke has scored the highest percentage of his team's goals out of all Premier League players - and this is the first time since early December where Andoni Iraola's side have won without their star man getting on the scoresheet.
But Antoine Semenyo has five Premier League goals. Justin Kluivert has four, while there is plenty of attacking depth through Marcus Tavernier, Ryan Christie, and Luis Sinisterra.
It means if Solanke, who has 14 goals this season, is to move on this summer - and there will be suitors - then Bournemouth have the foundations to move on without him.
Burnley travel to West Ham next Sunday (kick-off 2pm) before hosting Brentford in a big relegation match on March 16 (kick-off 3pm) before the international break.
Bournemouth face the other two newly-promoted sides over the next 10 days as they host Sheffield United next Saturday (kick-off 3pm), before facing Luton on March 13 (kick-off 7.30pm).
