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Burnley 0 Liverpool 3 (Aug 31 2019)

     

     
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    Dave Usher

Burnley away is supposed to be one of the tricky games. For most teams it is. Hell, for us it usually is. This time though we made it look routine. At no point did this ever look like it was going to be anything other than a comfortable win for us. Even when it was 0-0 it felt like only a matter of time before we scored. 

 

Burnley tried to do what they do. They had the two physical lads up front and they hit it long long to them at every opportunity, but they got nothing out of Virgil and Joel. Those of you who have been reading the Premier League Round Ups over the last 12 months with know I’m a big Ashley Barnes fan. He’s a handful and will cause problems for most defenders, but he never had a sniff in this game and was eventually subbed having done nothing.

 

The easy thing is to give Van Dijk the credit for that but for most of the game Matip was the one dealing with Barnes, while Virg took care of Chris Wood. The two centre backs, ably supported by Fabinho, were the bedrock on which this win was based. They were so dominant they basically just removed Burnley’s teeth. The Clarets were yapping but they had no bite.

 

This was just such an impressive performance, but we’re so good these days that wins like this are almost taken for granted now. They shouldn’t be. It’s not easy to do what we did here. There are some opponents that are tailor made for us and I just expect us to swat them aside. Teams that try to play football against us, especially in their own half, we’ll murder them every time.

 

Burnley though, they present a fairly unique set of problems and we’ve often had trouble dealing with them. This shows just how strong we are now, and I’m not specifically just talking about the players either. A lot goes into wins like this that we fans don’t really see. 

 

The untrained eye just sees a good performance and an impressive win, but without the right gameplan we wouldn’t be seeing that, regardless of how much better our players are than theirs. I feel as though we’re just incredibly well prepared for games these days. We know what the opponent wants to do, and we know how to stop them doing it. It’s rare that we get outmanoeuvred by anyone nowadays.

 

That’s because Klopp and his team of analysts have a plan for each opponent. Obviously I don’t know the specifics of what the plan was here, but you could tell from watching the game and also by what Klopp said afterwards that one of the keys was to make sure we had players around Van Dijk and Matip when they were dealing with the long balls. 

 

If you don’t have that you’re going to have all sorts of problems against Burnley, because even if the defenders win the header, Barnes and Wood are generally backing in and making it difficult for them to get a clean contact. Their midfielders then pick up the bits and they build from there and get plenty of crosses in. It’s simple but effective, and they’re very good at it. Usually.

 

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Not this time though. Virgil just completely dominated Wood all day, and although Matip had the tougher assignment in Barnes, he dealt with him very well too. That was a good battle between those two, with a little bit of needle there too. That’s how Barnes likes it, but Matip was up to the challenge.

 

Fabinho constantly being around his centre backs any time there was a loose ball helped massively too, and between the three of them they just dominated.

 

That being said, Burnley did still manage to force Adrian into a few saves, even though most of them were moot as they were offside anyway. Adrian didn’t know that anyway, as in the first instance the flag didn’t even go up.

 

I had a moan about that last week in the Arsenal report and the same thing happened again. I mistakenly thought last week that the lino didn’t flag because they’ve been instructed not to do so and to just let VAR deal with close calls. Apparently that’s only in the CL though (thanks to @RobbieOR for that). 

 

So last week when Aubamayeng went through, the lino didn’t flag not because he’s been told not to, but because he either thought he was onside or he took the shithouse approach and decided he’d leave it to VAR rather than risk getting it wrong.

 

And the exact same thing happened in this game. Wood was offside when he went through but the linesman kept his flag down. Adrian made a good save and the ball was smuggled behind for a corner. Had they scored, it wouldn’t have counted because VAR would have ruled it out, but because they didn’t score it couldn’t bemused and Burnley got a corner (just as Arsenal did last week). 

 

What if they’d scored from the corner? How is that fair? It’s bullshit. VAR is giving the linos a safety net that only encourages them not to make decisions in case they are wrong. I don’t blame them as it’s a sensible approach, but it’s asking for trouble and I feel it’s going to creep in more and more.

 

Anyway, Burnley didn’t score from the corner so no harm done, but there is going to come a time when a team does score in these circumstances and all hell will break loose, especially if it’s a decisive goal in an important game.

 

That was the only real moment of concern in a one sided first half though. We almost took the lead when Mané picked out Salah in the box and he struck a first time shot onto the post. Looked in all the way that. It was a really good effort. We had other chances too, most notably when Salah ran through but was beaten to the ball by Pope, only for the ricochet to go inches wide.

 

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Both of those were unfortunate, but lady luck smiled on us eventually when Trent’s cross flicked off the back of Wood and looped over Pope into the top corner. Complete fluke but who cares. Trent wasn’t arsed that they took the goal off him because he got the assist anyway, and assists are the new goals now for him and Robbo.

 

Mané made it 2-0 when Mee passed the ball straight to Bobby on halfway, and he drove forward and then rolled the ball into Sadio’s path for him to stroke it first time into the corner. There was never any doubt he was going to score that was there? He’s just in sensational form. All credit to Bobby there though, because he slowed down his run enough to allow Sadio to get ahead of him, and the pass was timed and weighted perfectly.

 

It was pretty much game over at 2-0 but you always want to get the third just to be sure. We had loads of opportunities to do so but didn’t make the most of them and had to wait until 80 minutes to finally wrap it up through Firmino. Some of our football had been sensational at times but the final pass rarely matched the build up. That’s when the final pass was actually even played of course. *looks accusingly at Salah*.

 

Salah could have put one on a plate for Firmino but instead checked onto his right foot and attempted an off balance shot from 18 yards. It barely even reached the keeper. Appalling that was. Bobby said nothing though, he just looked at the floor and probably muttered “greedy fucker”. 

 

Soon after there was a similar situation when Salah should have rolled it to Mané but once again checked back and into trouble. That had been a sensational team move and would have been one of the goals of the season if Salah had fed Sadio. Both of those incidents annoyed the shit out of me at the time, but as annoyed as I was it was clearly nothing to how furious Mané was.

 

I didn’t see it at the time and only found out what happened after I checked my phone at full time on the way out. I saw a few of the lads talking about it on whatsapp but I had no idea what had really gone on until I saw the videos on social media when I got home. My first thought was “fucking hell, that’s mad” as it was so out of character. 

 

My second thought was that it was hilarious seeing Mané just yelling and gesticulating at everyone! What makes it even funnier is seeing Bobby’s reaction walking down the tunnel. He’s a fucking case isn’t he? So funny. He just loves life doesn’t he? He works hard and he plays hard. Does anybody in football have more fun doing what they do than Bobby Firmino?

 

The way he leaned over and patted Sadio on the head sympathetically spoke volumes too I reckon. It smacked of “I know lad, fucking greedy bastard didn’t pass to me either”. Sadio was on one though, he was letting everyone have it! Klopp, the Kloppelganger and Hendo all got an earful. Luckily Milner was on hand to sit down next to him and calm the situation.

 

It’s not what you want to see but these things happen and it’s not a big deal. In a perfect world Salah would have passed the ball. In a slightly less than perfect world he might not pass it but Mané keeps his cool. In the real world though, sometimes people let emotions get the better of them, and Sadio was massively pissed off! It’s funny watching how angry he is, because that’s not him. 

 

The only player less likely to show a reaction like that is probably Gini, who’s just the nicest guy on the planet and has probably never lost his temper with anyone. Really though, who can blame Mané in this instance? 

 

The last time I saw a reaction like that to someone not passing was when Suarez looked like he wanted to kill Sturridge during a derby game at Anfield. My memory is shit these days, but from what I recall we were destroying Everton and could have put seven or eight past them the way the game was going. 

 

We got a pen and Sturridge took it off Gerrard because he was on a hat-trick. He missed, and then spent the rest of the game desperately trying to make up for it and to get his hat-trick, much to the annoyance of Suarez who just wanted to batter Everton and didn’t care who scored. 

 

After one particularly bad selfish moment from Sturridge, Suarez went apeshit and turned to the bench and was screaming at Rodgers to get Sturridge off. Soon after he got his way.

 

Klopp went a different route. He probably ought to have taken Salah off and had a quiet word to tell him to stop being such a greedy twat, but instead he took off Sadio and Bobby to give them a rest. That’s probably what tipped Mané over the edge because if that was me I’d have been saying “I’m out there playing for the team while he’s playing for himself, but you take ME off? And fucking Bobby too??”

 

He let rip at Hendo as well, and again I can understand where he is coming from on that too. Apparently Hendo bollocked him last week for something he did wrong against Arsenal, so Mané is probably thinking that the captain should be pulling Salah into line too. Only problem with that was Hendo had already been subbed by the time Salah didn’t pass to Mané. He was on when he ignored Bobby though, and that one was actually much worse, so yeah, have a fuckin’ word Jordan lad.

 

This isn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things and I’m sure it’s all been straightened out now. It is something that everyone is going to be looking at now though, so ideally in the next game they’ll both put a goal or two on a plate for the other and we can all move on.

 

I’d like to think that this might have shaken Mo a bit (seeing the normally mild mannered Mané going postal ought to give him pause) and make him realise that it’s fine to back himself when the odds are in his favour, but he needs to knock this other shit off where he’s trying to dribble past five players or taking low percentage shots (and ANY shot on his fucking right foot is low percentage). 

 

The two incidents in this game were inexcusable, and I only reckon he did it because he figured the game was won so he was entitled to try and get himself a goal. Even the ‘assist’ for Bobby wasn’t pass. He just over ran his dribble and Bobby ran up and smacked it in. Still, the stat nerds will use that as proof he isn’t greedy when the eyes tell a completely different tale.

 

It’s not acceptable really. This happened quite a bit last season too. He needs to play the game as though it’s 0-0 and if a team-mate is in a better position and he doesn’t have a clear sight of goal, then pass the fucking ball. You know that Bobby sure as hell would, and although Sadio has had his greedy moments too, he never really looks like someone who is just on a one man crusade to get a goal, as we’ve seen sometimes with Mo. 

 

Ultimately though, if this was going to happen then better it happen now in a routine 3-0 than in a game when it could cost us. The win maintains the 100% start and keeps us top. We couldn’t have asked for more at this stage. The thing with this team now though is it doesn’t really seem to matter who they’re playing and where. Barring two or three exceptions I see pretty much every game now as an almost certain three points. When was the last time we were able to think like that? The late 80s probably.

 

The standards currently being set by us and City are unprecedented. Both teams seem to win every week now. It’s unrelenting. This win gave us a club record for consecutive wins and also equalled a club record for consecutive away wins. We’ll lose or draw eventually and it might be in a game where we least expect it. I doubt it though, this team is just too good and too well prepared. 

 

I wouldn’t be surprised if we’ve won every game by the time we play City in November, and I’d be even less surprised if they’ve won every game between now and then too.

 

The Champions League will be well under why by that point though, and playing twice a week might make things trickier. That’s when the likes of Origi, Gomez, Milner, Shaqiri, Ox and co are going to be needed. 

 

Star man is Bobby. Could easily have been Virgil or Fabinho, or even Matip for that matter. I thought Adrian had a good game too, even though he wasn’t called into action too often. He made some good saves and I’m made up for him that he got his clean sheet.

 

I reckon he might be the happiest footballer on the planet right now. He probably can’t believe his luck. He’s loving it though, you only have to look at his instagram to see how much he’s buzzing off being a Liverpool player. He’s replying to every post by any of his team-mates or the club, it’s funny as fuck actually.

 

He doesn’t look like losing his place any time soon either based on how Alisson looked last week at the UEFA awards. A mate saw him hobbling down the steps and described it as “like a fella going to the social to put an invalidity claim in”. He didn’t look like someone on the verge of a comeback, put it that way.

 

 

Team: Adrian; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Henderson (Oxlade-Chamberlain), Wijnaldum; Salah, Firmino (Origi), Mané (Shaqiri):


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I thought Trent was MOM personally.  He looked like the complete full back.

 

That’s the one thing that’s doing my head in about the Salah argument.  People are saying “oh well all strikers are greedy” and it’s complete rubbish.  Taking shots on when you’re clean in but have that easy pass inside are understandable.  You want forwards to back themselves.  Turning an obvious goal scoring pass down to pull it on to your weaker foot or to put you in a situation where you need to more than just score is being a pig and he needs to cut it out.  In game I was more forgiving of him because I thought he’d played really well again and deserved a couple of attempts himself but watching it back it’s a joke.

 

I’m not of the opinion it’s nothing though.  The players don’t have to love each other but reactions like that can show players aren’t happy and might end up with them leaving.  I’d be fucking sick if Mane wanted out for whatever reason but if it was down to Salah being a greedy cunt I’d be fuming.

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30 minutes ago, The Guest said:

I thought Trent was MOM personally.  He looked like the complete full back.

 

That’s the one thing that’s doing my head in about the Salah argument.  People are saying “oh well all strikers are greedy” and it’s complete rubbish.  Taking shots on when you’re clean in but have that easy pass inside are understandable.  You want forwards to back themselves.  Turning an obvious goal scoring pass down to pull it on to your weaker foot or to put you in a situation where you need to more than just score is being a pig and he needs to cut it out.  In game I was more forgiving of him because I thought he’d played really well again and deserved a couple of attempts himself but watching it back it’s a joke.

 

I’m not of the opinion it’s nothing though.  The players don’t have to love each other but reactions like that can show players aren’t happy and might end up with them leaving.  I’d be fucking sick if Mane wanted out for whatever reason but if it was down to Salah being a greedy cunt I’d be fuming.

 

As great as all of our front three are and even though he scores a shitload of goals, I think Salah would be the easiest to replace. Obviously I hope none of them go anywhere but if one of them had to go...

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I said it in the match thread. It was a typical away performance from ourselves in the first half. Stay compact but still play enough football up the other end to create chances. It doesn't matter who you play away from home, you don't want to concede and have to chase the game. We may have got lucky with the TAA goal, but you make your own luck and Burnley had started to defend deeper and their forwards were dropping deeper to try and get involved, mainly because our defence was bossing them. It was a very good defensive performance, plus Adrian pulled off a few important saves when called upon. Matip is the perfect foil for VVD and you can physically see the trust the latter has in his partner. When Gomez plays at CB he is way better than he is at RB, but if you analyse the game VVD gets pulled out of postilion more. We cruised that second half without leaving third gear, Bobby was immense up front and his work rate at getting back to help out in M/F or harry defenders from setting up a move is second to none. It's early in the season but things are starting to gel. This International break has come at the wrong time for us. 

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The only thing that bothered me about this match was that stat about the 13 match straight wins I hate things like that because in the past we would have come unstuck but not now this team is well equipped to deal with that good report as usual Dave 

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Good report that,Sadio was right to be so pissed off,shite by Mo that.

what about Millie though?

posted a picture of the bench with the caption,

Sadio getting upset because the boss didn’t put me on,

fuck’n love James Milner 

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