Wrexham Manager Phil Parkinson Critiques Team’s Passivity After Burnley Draw

Phil Parkinson walked off the Racecourse pitch with a point, an unbeaten run intact, and a frown that told its own story. Wrexham had come from behind to draw 1-1 with Burnley, yet their manager was in no mood to dress it up.

They are three games without defeat. They are still waiting for a home win.

Burnley, who arrived rooted to the bottom of the Championship, struck first and asked questions Wrexham struggled to answer. The visitors found gaps, dragged red shirts around, and for long spells dictated where the game was played.

The response came after the break. Jacques Ekomie rose in the second half to head Wrexham level, his finish salvaging a point and injecting some life into a flat Racecourse evening. The goal underlined the character Parkinson trusts in this squad. It did not hide the flaws he had already spotted.

"There are things we can do better," Parkinson said, blunt and specific. His side had gone into the game on the back of a 3-0 win at Millwall and a solid 0-0 at Swansea, two performances built on discipline and control without the ball. Against Burnley, that platform slipped.

Without possession, Wrexham never quite got their structure right. Burnley tweaked their shape, and Wrexham did not react quickly enough. The press, usually a weapon, became hesitant. Lines dropped, distances grew, and the visitors played in the spaces that opened up.

"Without the ball, tactically we didn't get it quite right," Parkinson admitted. Burnley’s adjustments unsettled Wrexham, and the manager did not shy away from that. "They changed a couple of things and we were also a bit passive in terms of the way we pressed as well."

The contrast with the previous two games irritated him. At Swansea and Millwall, Wrexham had strangled the opposition, limiting them to almost nothing in front of goal. That control vanished here. Burnley found too much room between the lines, too much joy in those pockets that had been locked down so effectively in the last week.

"Against Burnley there was just a bit too much space in areas and we need to look at that," Parkinson said. The analysis was already forming in his mind. Wrexham, he felt, had allowed themselves to be dragged back, both literally and mentally.

"We got caught 10 to 15 yards too deep at times," he added. That retreat gave Burnley time to pick passes and push Wrexham back towards their own box. The home crowd felt it. So did the players.

The correction came in the dressing room. At half-time, Parkinson and his staff reset the approach. The back line stepped up, the front players pressed with greater conviction, and the game tilted. "At half-time we rectified that and the pressing was loads better," he said.

The improvement brought territory, pressure, and eventually Ekomie’s header. It also brought a reminder: this Wrexham team can respond, can adapt mid-game, and can scrap for points when the performance is short of perfect.

But the table does not lie, and neither does the fixture list. Unbeaten in three, yes. Still chasing that first home win of the season at the Racecourse, absolutely. The standards Parkinson has set mean a point against the Championship’s bottom side, secured by a second-half rally, will not be enough for long.