Playing for Burnley will be different proposition for Flanagan, admits Dyche
Jon Flanagan will get the chance to reinvigorate his Premier League career after the door finally opened for him at Burnley.
The 23-year-old, who is on a season-long loan from Liverpool, has had to bide his time for a chance, but Stephen Ward's hamstring strain has created a vacancy at left-back against Crystal Palace.
Patiently waiting for a first-team opportunity at a recently-promoted side was probably not what Flanagan expected a couple of years ago.
Back then he was a bright young thing at Anfield, a thoroughbred scouser and all the more beloved for it.
He played a significant part in the club's thrilling 2013/14 title tilt under Brendan Rodgers, sharing the field with the likes of Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez and sharing in the heartbreak as they stumbled, quite literally in Gerrard's case, at the eleventh hour.
An England debut followed against Ecuador, but after a serious knee injury and two operations, he managed only eight games last season.
And so he finds himself knuckling down with the Clarets and eyeing his first top-flight start since May.
Burnley boss Sean Dyche sees the dichotomy in Flanagan's status and appreciates it is not an easy challenge for the player.
"He's only sort of 40 games into his career, but the grandeur of the season he played at Liverpool suggests his depth of experience is greater than that," said Dyche.
"I've got to be aware of that, he's still kind of a developing player. Not in the same way as some, of course, but he is still moving forward in his game, in his understanding of how we work and how the Premier League works.
"So I'm open-minded about what he can do for us.
"It's a challenge. Here it's different possession stats, different numbers of chances created, a different quality of player. With all due respect, Liverpool nearly won the Premier League and, although I love my players, I'm not saying we're going to win, or nearly win, the Premier League.
"We're a different level of quality, a different level of league understanding, there's different levels of experience in our team.
"It's a different animal he's into with us and so far he's done well with what he's had to do and we look forward to even more going forward.
"He's got a chance because he's worked very hard in training to get up to speed, because when we got him he wasn't quite there."
Alan Pardew is confident Palace will emerge from their recent slump ahead of a "big fixture" at Burnley.
The Eagles head to Turf Moor on the back of three straight defeats against West Ham, Leicester and Liverpool.
They have also failed to keep a clean sheet in the league so far this season, so Pardew has been working on plugging the gaps in defence this week.
"Sometimes the Premier League fixture list makes if difficult," he said. "Leicester won the league, then we had Liverpool at home.
"The West Ham game we are kicking ourselves a bit about but our fans know we put in decent displays, so I am not overly concerned.
"I like to think the fans understand. They are a great group to work with, they give me everything they've got. We've just fallen short in the last couple of games but there is no concern on my part.
"But this is a big fixture for both clubs - it could send us both up into the top 10."
Source: PAR
