Klopp speaks!
That’s your lot, then, on a historic night for Burnley at Anfield. They thoroughly deserved to end Liverpool’s long unbeaten run at home in the league, earning three precious points in their fight to climb the table. They’ve also seriously hampered Liverpool’s title bid, which, with some tricky fixtures coming up, could soon become downgraded to a battle for a top-four spot. Thanks for reading this MBM. Stay safe and warm everyone. Nighty night!
Sean Dyche’s turn! “We did the basics very well. Structure and shape, and individual diligence. You still need a bit of luck. They had a couple of chances, and Popey’s had to make a good save. But I’ve always believed in the side to find a moment, and we had a couple. And Barnesy had a penalty and slotted it away very well. They were probing, they were calm around the box, but our diligence was excellent. We don’t lack belief. We lack a bit of talent sometimes, in the key areas up front, but we have never lacked belief. It’s the reality of what we do, the challenge at Burnley. Do the basics right to keep you in it, and find a moment, and tonight we found a moment. We know we’re going to have to find bigger moments but this has put us in a better position.”
As for the half-time row: “It was just two managers fighting for their team, wanting to win a game. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
Jurgen Klopp talks to Sky. “We lost a game which is actually impossible to lose, but we did it, and that’s my fault because my job is to make sure the boys have the right amount of confidence and make the right decisions. That obviously didn’t work out tonight as we had the ball a lot. We created some situations, that is all OK, but in the final moment our decision-making is not right. That is the problem: you have the ball in the right place, then you don’t shoot, then you pass. I’m pretty sure I said the same thing last week [rueful laugh]. If something doesn’t work you have to try harder, longer, and make better decisions. The things that don’t work are my fault. The things that work are the players. We’ve worked that long together now. If I make clear which movements make sense because it will hurt the opponent, and they don’t do them, then I have to make it clearer. That’s how it is. The good thing is, we can change it, we just have to work on it. And we can’t work on tonight’s game any more, but we can use it for the next one. I can’t believe we lost it, but it’s the truth and we have to accept that.”
As for the half-time exchange of views with Dyche? “If he’s not talking about it, I will not talk about it. I didn’t start it. All good.”
The managerial post-match interviews are still to come. In the meantime, Richard Jolly’s report from Anfield has landed. Here it is!
Ashley Barnes, who secured Burnley’s first win at Anfield since 1974, speaks! “What a shift from the lads, a great team performance. We believe in every game, and it was no different today. We knew it was going to be tough and we stayed resilient. We keep believing. We knew we would grow into the game. We managed to stick to our jobs and it worked. It was a bit of handbags [with Fabinho]. He gave us a little kick after, but it was one of them, and you just get on with it. [The result] is a great achievement. Every goal is massive, but the next one now is the most important.”
That’s the end of Liverpool’s long unbeaten run in the Premier League at Anfield! A sequence that stretched all the way back to April 2017 is finally over after 69 games! Alisson engages the referee in a token argument over the penalty, but a grim-faced Klopp comes across to usher him away. Liverpool were appalling tonight ... but they were only as good as Burnley allowed them to be. Sean Dyche’s team were magnificent to a man, and fully deserved the win. The three precious points they’ve earned launch them into 16th place, two points ahead of Brighton on 19, with a game in hand. As for Liverpool? They remain in fourth, six off Manchester United’s lead, Spurs and Everton breathing down their necks, and still without a Premier League goal in 2021. A season to concentrate on the cups, perhaps? Sunday’s game at Old Trafford suddenly gets even bigger.
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FULL TIME: Liverpool 0-1 Burnley
Burnley have done a comprehensive number on the champions!
90 min +4: Alexander-Arnold and Minamino earn a corner out on the right. Alisson comes up again. Robertson takes, Pope claims, and that’s surely that!
90 min +3: Barnes goes down and his treatment eats up a few precious seconds. Burnley are so close now!
90 min +2: Liverpool win a fortunate corner, a ricochet from long distance. Alisson comes up. There’s a bit of bedlam, but Burnley hold firm. Alisson heads back.
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90 min +1: McNeil has a lash from 25 yards. It flies wide left.
90 min: Nothing comes of the corner. There will be four minutes. Four minutes for Liverpool to save a long unbeaten home record in the league that stretches back nearly four years!
89 min: When it’s not your day ... Alexander-Arnold shoots low from the right. The ball flies toward Firmino, who flicks cleverly towards goal. The ball ricochets off Mee and out for a corner. That could have gone anywhere!
88 min: Liverpool continue to toil. Burnley look extremely comfortable.
87 min: Matip is booked for a cynical handball as Burnley attempt to break upfield.
86 min: Liverpool haven’t responded to that shock at all. On the touchline, Klopp looks resigned to defeat.
84 min: Minamino comes on for Shaqiri. Too late to have any sort of effect?
GOAL! Liverpool 0-1 Burnley (Barnes 83 pen)
Barnes whips his 100th senior club career goal into the bottom right! Alisson went the right way, but had no chance. Liverpool’s long unbeaten run at Anfield is now in serious peril!
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Penalty for Burnley!
82 min: Barnes barges his way past Fabinho down the inside-right channel and into the box. He’s free! Alisson races off his line and spreads himself. Barnes needs no invitation. Over he goes, and that’s a penalty!
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81 min: It’s attack versus defence now, though Liverpool don’t have any idea how to break through the deep Burnley block. Dinks on the edge of the box and nothing any further.
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79 min: ... Pope punches clear with calm confidence.
78 min: Salah runs slap-bang into the back of Pieters, and this is a free kick just to the right of the Burnley box. Alexander-Arnold curls it in, and ...
76 min: Liverpool scored seven at Palace before Christmas. They haven’t won in the league since. They’ve only scored once since then. Minamino hasn’t played in the league since. It’s a bit strange that he’s not been given any chance to break the logjam.
74 min: Alexander-Arnold reaches the byline and whips in from the right. The ball hits Pieters on the arm, but neither referee nor Mr VAR is interested. That was in seen-them-given territory, but there was certainly no clear and obvious error, so the decision stands.
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72 min: Firmino snaffles a Pope roll-out and aims for the bottom right. He shanks it well wide.
71 min: McNeil again gets the best of Alexander-Arnold down the left. He cuts back for Gudmundsson, arriving late. Gudmundsson sidefoots wide left from a tight angle. That was a decent chance.
69 min: Shaqiri shovels a diagonal pass towards Firmino on the left-hand edge of the six-yard box. Firmino can’t guide an effort goalwards with a telescopic leg. Pope likely had the angle covered anyway.
67 min: From a deep position on the right, Lowton loops a huge diagonal pass towards Barnes, who enters the box free! He whips a shot towards the bottom left. Alisson palms it away, a fantastic save, though the flag eventually goes up for offside. Alisson wouldn’t have known that. It was another great stop. Both keepers are playing very well. Just look at that scoreline!
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65 min: A second change for Burnley, and their first tactical one: Gudmundsson comes on for Brady.
64 min: Alexander-Arnold snatches the ball off McNeil and sends Salah off down the right. Salah pulls back for Mane on the spot. Mane’s under pressure from Lawton, and skies his shot.
63 min: So having said that, Liverpool drop the tempo again. Burnley hold their shape, and the hosts go nowhere.
61 min: Nothing comes of the corner, but Liverpool have picked up the tempo a bit. They already look better since their double change.
60 min: Wijnaldum turns just to the left of the centre circle and embarks on a sensational diagonal run to the edge of the box. He slips the ball to Salah, who fires towards the bottom right. Pope, having another fine game at Anfield, claws out at the expense of a corner.
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58 min: Klopp has seen enough. Salah and Firmino are sent on, in place of the ineffectual pair Origi and Oxlade-Chamberlain.
56 min: McNeil drifts past Alexander-Arnold down the left with ease. Matip steps across to put a stop to his gallop, a fine reading of the situation.
55 min: Shaqiri floats one in from a deep position on the right. Another doddle for Pope.
54 min: Westwood hoicks a dismal effort miles over the heads of everyone in yellow and yards right of the target. On the touchline, Dyche seethes silently. The scariest type of seethe.
53 min: Alexander-Arnold swings a couple of crosses in from the right. Easy for the Burnley defence. Barnes goes up the other end. He’s heading down a dead end, but Thiago foolishly slides in to concede a free kick, out on the left. Burnley load the box.
51 min: Alexander-Arnold cuts in from the right and has a bash. Pope does well to stop the vicious shot, which was heading into the bottom right. He can’t hold on, though, and the ball breaks loose. Mane is lurking, but Pope adjusts his prone body to whip-kick clear just in time. That results in a corner; the corner leads to another, then to nothing.
49 min: He can’t continue. Pieters comes on in his place. Taylor did the damage while stretching to complete a clearance under pressure from Origi.
48 min: Taylor is down with what looks like a muscle injury.
47 min: Mee hangs out a leg to stop Oxlade-Chamberlain marauding down the middle. He’s slightly fortunate not to be booked.
46 min: Liverpool are instantly on the front foot, but Alexander-Arnold’s cross from the right is far too close to Pope, who gathers quietly.
Liverpool, kicking towards the Kop now, get the ball rolling for the second half. Neither team have made a half-time change.
Half-time entertainment. That’s been provided by footage of the Klopp-Dyche dialectic. A proper eyeball-to-eyeball row, Klopp chasing his opposite number down the tunnel, Dyche turning to give as good as he got. Not entirely sure what sparked that, as neither manager appeared to witness the Fabinho-Barnes non-event. We don’t like to see it, though we do. The post-match interviews are going to be something.
VAR nonsense complete. Mike Dean shows Fabinho a yellow card for kneeing Barnes in the arse. It looked nothing more than a garden-variety coming together, but VAR checks for a possible red. However the on-field decision stands. Just a yellow, though Fabinho appears genuinely confused that anything’s been given at all. Robertson may well have been aggrieved at Barnes going down, but it didn’t look as though the Burnley man did anything wrong either. And while all that was going on, Klopp and Dyche were exchanging philosophical ideas in the tunnel! It could be a fun second half.
HALF TIME: Liverpool 0-0 Burnley
The whistle goes for the break. Klopp runs off down the tunnel, then turns back. There’s a stramash on the field! Fabinho and Barnes had come together under a high ball, just before the whistle. Barnes went down. Robertson isn’t happy. This one’s going to VAR, despite the half being over!
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45 min +1: The ball’s tapped to the right by Thiago. A wee bit too much on it. Alexander-Arnold aims for the top right. He just about finds the top right of the Anfield Road Stand.
45 min: Mane is clipped to the floor by Brownhill, on the left-hand edge of the Burnley D. A free kick in a dangerous position. Liverpool have one added minute in which to take it.
44 min: Mee, the last man, takes an absurd fresh-air swipe at a simple ball - think Gerry Young in the 1966 FA Cup final, kids! - allowing Origi to race clear. He’s one on one with Pope! He reaches the edge of the box and powerfully sidefoots past the keeper ... but his rising shot, meant for the top right, caroms off the junction of post and bar! Pope claims the rebound with a smile.
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42 min: Liverpool have enjoyed 90 percent possession during the last ten minutes. Much good it’s done them. Origi dinks a cross from the right towards Mane, who is caught offside. Origi should have taken a shot himself; his decision making has been very poor so far.
40 min: Alexander-Arnold drops a shoulder and shoots from a tight angle on the right. Taylor blocks and deflects out for a corner. Nothing comes of that.
39 min: Robertson is sent into the Burnley box on the left. He tries to beat Pope at his near post with pace, but the keeper stands firm. Then Barnes is booked for scything through the back of Thiago earlier in the move. With industrial quantities of chutzpah, he complains about the decision, but it’s as clear a yellow card as you’ll ever see.
38 min: Alexander-Arnold has a look from the best part of 30 yards. That one’s heading off towards Goodison.
37 min: Burnley are knocking the ball around confidently. Liverpool not so much.
35 min: Shaqiri brings Taylor down on the left wing with a forward’s challenge. He walks off shaking his head. The resulting free kick finds Brady on the right-hand corner of the box. He has a whack but it’s soft and an easy gather for Alisson.
34 min: In the Liverpool dugout, Jurgen Klopp sits back in his chair with arms tightly folded and a face on. No wonder. Liverpool have been abysmal so far.
32 min: Origi is clearly operating a shoot-on-sight policy. He has another dig from the edge of the box. It’s a vicious strike, but straight at Pope.
31 min: Alisson plays a pinpoint pass through a four-man Burnley press with the outside of his boot. Liverpool may be lacking confidence up front, but their keeper is as calm as ever.
29 min: Origi goes on a decent dribble down the middle. He’s got options either side, but shoots towards the bottom right from the edge of the D instead. It’s another easy claim for Pope.
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27 min: A Liverpool free kick to the left of the Burnley box. Robertson swings it in. There’s a load of pushing and shoving, and the whistle sounds for a foul. On the touchline, Klopp screams with great feeling, annoyed more at his players than that particular decision, I’ll be bound.
25 min: Wood scampers down the left and slips the ball to McNeil, who crosses. Wood had wheeled off to the centre, and he tries to meet the low cross, only to clip Fabinho instead. Another fine move, this time stopped by a well-positioned defender drawing a foul.
24 min: Wijnaldum and Thiago one-two in from the left. Thiago curls right towards Alexander-Arnold, who fires low and hard into the middle. Origi is waiting on the edge of the six-yard box to sweep home, but Mee hooks away sensationally. That’s a lovely move ended by some mighty fine defending.
23 min: Oxlade-Chamberlain follows Shaqiri’s lead, sending a speculative effort goalwards from 25 yards. It’s easy pickings for Pope.
21 min: A couple of corners for Liverpool out on the right. Neither are any good. But then their first shot in anger, Shaqiri bustling in from the right and sending a fierce riser towards the top right. It’s just wide, and Pope probably had it covered, but that’s better from Liverpool, who have otherwise been their usual 2021 selves so far: timid and unsure.
19 min: The first test for Matip, who sticks to Wood like glue as the Burnley striker barges down the left. The defender wins the battle and the whistle goes before Wood can carve out a shot.
18 min: McNeil and Taylor combine crisply down the left. McNeil’s eventual cross is blocked and loops harmlessly into Alisson’s arms, but Burnley are looking the more coherent side here. They’re giving as good as they’re getting. Perhaps even a little more.
16 min: Another Burnley long ball drops to Lowton, on the edge of the box. His shot is blocked, then the offside flag eventually springs up. This diktat really is absurd.
15 min: Burnley will be happy enough with this start. They’ve asked Liverpool a couple of questions, while Pope has only had to seriously intervene on one occasion so far.
13 min: Shaqiri backheels in the Burnley box and finds Wijnaldum, but Liverpool’s stand-in captain can’t sort his feet out. Burnley go up the other end and launch it high. Alisson falls over Wood in the slapstick style as he tries to claim. The ball breaks to Barnes, who shoots from the edge of the box, but Alisson has sprung up immediately and blocks brilliantly. From the ridiculous to the sublime.
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11 min: ... and then the flag finally goes up for offside. This is a preposterous edict.
10 min: Wood returns the favour, only his pass is down the left, and better. Barnes is free on goal! He doesn’t have the pace, though, and Alexander-Arnold catches up, then shepherds him to the left. Barnes turns and tonks a hopeful effort goalwards from a tight angle, but it’s an easy smother for Alisson.
9 min: Barnes slips a ball down the right in the hope of releasing Wood. A better pass would have split Liverpool open, with Wood in acres, but it’s too heavy and Alisson is able to rush to the edge of his box to claim.
7 min: Nothing comes of the next corner.
6 min: Alexander-Arnold curls in from the right, forcing Tarkowski to concede a corner on the right. Mane meets the corner, his header forcing Pope into a fine reaction save. The ball pinballs around, and Pope has to tip over under pressure from Fabinho.
5 min: Origi has a speculative swipe from 25 yards and nearly clears the Anfield Road Stand.
4 min: A free kick for Burnley near the halfway line, out on the left. It’s launched into the Liverpool box. Tarkowski wins a header, but it’s directionless and allows Alexander-Arnold to clear.
3 min: The corner’s worked to the right flank. Shaqiri whips into the mixer. Fabinho wins a header, ten yards out, but can only glance it harmlessly wide. A half-chance.
2 min: Burnley are kicking towards the Kop in this first half. They quickly send the ball sailing into it, giving Liverpool the opportunity to stroke it around a bit. Mane looks to release Robertson down the left, forcing Brady to toe-poke behind for the first corner of the match.
Burnley get the ball rolling ... but only after taking the knee. There’s no room for racism. Kick it out.
The teams are out! Liverpool wear their famous red, while Burnley sport third-choice neon yellow. We’ll be off after a blast of You’ll Never Walk Alone. “I think the Brummie bard best sums up my current state of mind regarding my team: ‘I have of late wherefore I know not [due to lack of activity in the transfer window to get a defender to release Fabinho back into midfield] lost all my mirth.’” What a piece of work is a fan! In this instance, it’s Prince Hamlet Withnail Ian Copestake. As for this most excellent canopy, the air: it’s currently cold and dry after an earlier rainstorm.
Sean Dyche’s turn. “We have settled down the defensive side of things, and look more solid, but then you’re looking for that balance. We have created some chances, better chances, because that’s the key to it, it’s the quality of chance. And in some games we haven’t taken those chances. From the last nine games we’ve got 14 points, so that’s a good return after a tough start.”
Jurgen Klopp talks to BT Sport. “We play every three days, and that’s why we have to make changes. Hendo is not in the squad because he felt a little bit ... it’s not serious but he couldn’t make it tonight. It will be a very intense game tonight.”
Liverpool make three changes to the side that drew 0-0 at home to Manchester United. Joel Matip returns from injury, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain comes into the midfield, and Divock Origi is given a rare start up front. Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino drop to the bench, while captain Jordan Henderson isn’t in the squad at all. Georginio Wijnaldum is captain for the evening, at least until James Milner comes on.
Burnley make two changes to the team that went down 1-0 at West Ham. Charlie Taylor and Dwight McNeil replace Erik Pieters and Johann Gudmundsson.
The teams
Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Fabinho, Robertson, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Thiago, Wijnaldum, Shaqiri, Mane, Origi.
Subs: Milner, Firmino, Salah, Jones, Minamino, Tsimikas, Phillips, Kelleher, Neco Williams.
Burnley: Pope, Lowton, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor, Brady, Westwood, Brownhill, McNeil, Wood, Barnes.
Subs: Cork, Gudmundsson, Peacock-Farrell, Stephens, Rodriguez, Pieters, Bardsley, Vydra, Long.
Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral).
Preamble
It’s not quite do-or-die time for Liverpool. But it’s getting close. Having stumbled through a relatively benign run of fixtures, they’ll soon be facing the likes of Tottenham, West Ham, Manchester City, Leicester and Everton. So if they fancy retaining their title, not only do they need to rediscover their form, they also can’t be dropping too many more points in games they’re expected to win.
Are they expected to win against Burnley? You’d think so, yes, given the relegation-haunted Clarets have lost three of their last four, and have only scored nine goals all season. Liverpool on the other hand, for all their current travails, are still only six off Manchester United’s lead with a game in hand. But the champions haven’t won in four, and haven’t scored in three. Confidence is currently low ... and they’ll surely not have forgotten that Burnley were the only team to take points off them at Anfield last season. So nothing’s certain.
Liverpool could do with a statement victory tonight. Failing that, a scrappy one would suffice, as they strain to stay on the shoulders of United, Manchester City and Leicester. Burnley are desperate for the points themselves, though, and Sean Dyche’s team aren’t the sort to lie down for the opposition. This promises to be a good contest. Kick off is at 8pm GMT. It’s on!
