Burnley Advances in Carabao Cup: Nicky Hayen's Vision for Connection

Nicky Hayen walked out of Turf Moor on Saturday night with relief in his shoulders and a clear idea in his head. Burnley are through in the Carabao Cup, just, and now everything turns towards a sold-out Championship opener against West Ham United next Sunday – and the atmosphere he is desperate to build.

A 4-3 win on penalties over Notts County, after a 1-1 draw in normal time, will not go down as a classic. It did, however, give Hayen exactly what every new manager craves: a first competitive win and a dressing room full of smiles.

“It’s good for the atmosphere,” he told the club’s website. You could see why. Players laughing again, tension eased, the sense that something had finally started.

Building a bond at Turf Moor

Hayen has been clear from the outset: Burnley’s revival will not just be about systems and shape. It will be about connection. Between players. Between players and fans. Between a club bruised by relegation and a support desperate to feel proud of its team again.

“You see the smiling faces in the dressing room, and this is something that we can use going into next week,” he said. Next week is no small occasion. West Ham, the first Championship fixture, a packed Turf Moor. “It’s a big game next week, the stadium will be sold out. We had a really good atmosphere. This is something we want to create, a great atmosphere, a better connection between the players and the fans.”

The message is blunt: the players must earn that noise.

“We have to bring that energy into the stadium by delivering performances. We have to promise that we’ll keep on going for 95 minutes, pull up our sleeves. We want the fans to be able to identify with the team for 95 minutes and that at the end they can say they did everything. We will always give the maximum that we can to please them.”

No talk of transition, no soft landing. Work, intensity, and a side that looks like its town.

Flickers of form and familiar faces

There was more than just progression to cling to. Turf Moor also saw the return of some important figures, with Connor Rovers, Aaron Ramsey and Zeki Amdouni all back on the pitch and back in front of supporters who have not forgotten them.

“You can see they are loved by the fans so it’s nice to see that they had an impact in the past. This is something that we have to use,” Hayen said. Minutes now, more minutes later – that is the plan. “It was great that these players had minutes, that they sustained quite well. Now day by day and game by game they’ll have more minutes. We have to continue the way we are working at the moment.”

Those returning came into a game that rarely flowed but never lost its edge. Zian Flemming found the net for the Clarets, offering a glimpse of the cutting edge Hayen will need in the league. When the tie went to penalties, it was goalkeeper Max Weiss who stepped forward as the hero, decisive in the shoot-out as Burnley edged into the second round.

“I’m happy to go through to the next round of the cup, this is the most important,” Hayen admitted. “At the end that’s what counts.”

But the smile did not hide his irritation.

Honest about the flaws

Hayen did not dress it up. This was not a performance to frame.

“We’re aware it wasn’t the perfect performance,” he said. “We had some really good moments but there were also moments when we were too sloppy, we played too slowly, and this is something that we have to improve. It was an average performance.”

Burnley opened strongly. For 20 minutes they looked like a side keen to impose themselves, aggressive and front-foot.

“I thought we started really well the first 20 minutes, really dominant, recovered a lot of balls high on the pitch,” Hayen said. The problem came when that intensity faded. The runs stopped. The organisation frayed.

“But then we lost our organisation a little bit, didn’t do the runs anymore that we had to do. We felt like we were playing quite well, a little bit of arrogance, this is something that we can’t accept – we always have to stay focused for 95 minutes.”

Notts County’s goal rattled Burnley more than it should have. Panic crept in, the kind that has haunted this ground too often over the past year. Hayen did not ignore it at the interval.

“When they scored there was a little bit of panic and that’s why we said at half-time, that our performance has to be better, we have to increase the level again and we have to show what our level is.”

The response after the break was better. Burnley stepped up again in the first 15 minutes of the second half, found their equaliser through Flemming and tried to force the issue.

“The first 15 minutes of the second half we have a better moment again, we score the equaliser. We pushed for the second goal, but we didn’t create enough chances or create enough depth in our game.”

That lack of depth, that shortage of clear openings, will worry him more than a scrappy cup tie. The Championship will punish any side that drifts through spells of a game.

Yet Hayen leaves this first test with what he wanted: progress in the cup, key players back on the grass, and a fanbase given a reason – however small – to lean back in. Next Sunday, with West Ham in town and Turf Moor full, we find out whether this promise of energy and connection is just talk, or the start of something harder, louder, and lasting.