Evans Sees Lessons In Burnley Draw

Manchester United defender Jonny Evans expressed his frustration after the 0-0 draw with Burnley but described the match as a "learning curve".

The Reds were held to a second successive stalemate in the Barclays Premier League on Saturday, meaning the search for a first victory this season continues. Evans believes United could have created more goalscoring opportunities against Sean Dyche's side, but insisted the players will learn from recent setbacks.

“I think towards the end of the game we got frustrated because we could have put them under more pressure and created more chances," he told MUTV. "We knew what to expect, we knew that we’d be under pressure for 20 or 30 minutes and I think it was important that we didn’t concede at that time. Once the game settled down in the second half, we had a lot of possession but didn’t create enough.

“I think the way the system sets us up, the biggest thing is that we have to be more patient going forward, and we need to know when the right time is to give the ball back to the goalkeeper. They were able to close down David [De Gea] a lot today, as well as me and Tyler [Blackett] in the wide areas, so I think it’s a learning curve for us. The most important thing was that we didn’t concede.

“I thought Antonio [Valencia] was getting a lot of space on the right-hand side, they defended well and put a lot of men behind the ball, so I think we might have needed a bit of luck. The manager keeps telling us to be patient in our build-up play and to use our brains a bit more. It’s easy to get sucked into a battle, and I think he wants us to take the sting out of the game. After three games, we don’t want to panic, but I think the most important thing is to start winning games."

The defender was also full of praise for new signing Angel Di Maria, after the Argentine winger made his Reds debut at Turf Moor.

“I thought he was fantastic," he added. "It’s not easy to come away to Burnley, and he’s not used to having an early kick-off so I thought he handled that pretty well and showed a lot of class. In certain situations he was able to dribble past people, and I think that could be a huge asset for us."