Liverpool 2 Burnley 1 (Mar 12 2017)

[tlw content]

  
“Winning ugly” is the expression everyone is using to describe this one. Even Klopp used it. This was more than ugly though, it was grotesque. If this game were a person it would be Katie Hopkins. It was utterly wretched. 
 
Does it really matter though? I don’t think it does in this particular instance. The result is the only thing that matters on this occasion. We can get back to our fancy footy next week when we play City, a team that will let us play and won't be partying like it's 1982. 
 
We took the three points and we won’t have to play another game like this again until next season, because nobody else plays like Burnley. They’re a one off, a throwback to a bygone era. 
 
Eleven British players, rigid 4-4-2 system, the keeper launching free-kicks into our box from the halfway line…. it was as though they’d time travelled from the 80s to come and play us. It’s just a damn shame we can’t bring our own team from the 80s to come and play now, instead we're stuck with this lot. 
 
We were shite, there’s no getting away from that, but it wasn’t all about us. It’s hard to look good against Burnley and you only have to look at their results away to the rest of the top teams to see that. Only Chelsea had it easy against them, winning 3-0. 
 
The Mancs drew 0-0 with them and everyone else won 2-1, just like we did. So this isn’t really anything to be unduly concerned by. It’s actually pretty standard as Burnley are awkward bastards, and I mean that as a compliment. 
 


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[jimmycase]

Yeah, Can MoTM for me as well.

[Stickman]

Good article but a bit harsh to compare us to Katie Hopkins though...Even these bottlers don't deserve that.

[Paco]

11 British players? Think there were at least 2 irish in the starting line up.

 

Anybody else hear Martin Tyler's northern Ireland impression 'here's mee'. Really wanted Burnley to have a player called wah that he could have passed it to at that moment.

[Whelan5]

First time I seen the word " wretched " in a TLW report.  Thought that word was reserved for ESPN reports. A word I've often seen written but never heard spoken. And I back up the other lads 11 British players comment....... the empire is over guys, time to give up on

that shite.

[The Golden Eel]

Most important thing was to win and try to build some momentum and confidence.  First time we've won 2 league games in a row for a long time.  If we can take 4 points from the City and Everton games I might start believing again.  But the performances outside the big games are still unrelentingly shit.  Luckily Arsenal are struggling, Kane is fucked and the other two have European commitments to deal with, so despite us being the worst side (IMO), things are conspiring to give us a chance.  As we know though, these players aren't renowned for stepping up in these situations.

[rb14]

Care. Couldn't. Less.

[dylstar]

Thought that Lowton had a good game for them. No wonder Flanno ain't getting a sniff.

 

Somebody is gonna score long range against them with that keeper taking free kicks so far out; mark my words. Shame Alonso wasn't still playing for us.

[MafioSol]

Dave,

You’re killin’ it (again and continually) in your report.

Nail hit square firmly on the head regarding 'ugly win' (or 'dogged it out' as a little less frequently used by some) regarding the result.

Any sort of win against this unique proposition (as you say) was welcome by the discerning Liverpool fan.

I commend the team for extricating themselves from the mental straitjacket/head-fuck of not being able to beat a top-six side, hopefully a new mindset bodes well for when we come up against similar opposition in the season remainder and we perform less inhibited.
 

Observations:        
 

MIgnolet

- You're spot on! He was aggressive and emphatic particularly in defending on the front foot against the alehouse deliveries.
Is this a new Mignolet trait? Is his form sufficient to quell cries of derision in the short-term/secure the No.1 jersey in the medium-term/retain Anfield employment in the long-term? The answer is blowing in the wind (and maybe amongst the combative gusts of a Stoke/WBA aerial barrage in the coming weeks).
 

Can

- No question he was having a 'mare of a game (not the only home player). There was one particularly misplaced pass which drew a deafening crescendo of derision from three quarters of the crowd (who to be fair offered total raucous support otherwise to each and every Red Man, unforced mistake or not). So I'm pleased Can scored and our supporters got fully on his side. It helped that the goal gave him belief in his game.
 

Biggest game of the season

- Again, no question. We treated it like a cup-tie (at least that's my perception after reverberating to the Anfield noise whilst watching the game from my Spanish residence).
Such was the importance of the occasion and the determination not to allow Burnley to 'out-Burnley' us again. These PL chavs must feel honoured to have received such reverence.
 

Matip
- Was immense. Like a magnetic pylon. A Rolls Royce of a defender (dare I say it). I hope I don't jinx him as Rodgers once said a similar thing about Can and his performances went into reverse/stalled/placed up on bricks since.
Whilst peerless Matip was ably assisted by a dutiful right-hand man in Klavan.
 

Clyne

- My first instinct was to blame him for the goal. Due to poor positioning it seemed that he didn't do what great/at least good defenders do and 'smell danger'. If you look at his final resting place for the goal (from a starting position of outside Barnes, his tracking run ends up on his other side and in the centre of the goal, almost totally without relation to the scorers movement) it appears his defending was bizarre.

However, it's fair to say that there were a number of other defenders who could have cut out the ball whilst delivered into the danger zone. Crucially it was a bloody good ball.

Origi

- It appears he needs to be put down/out of his misery - which is a shame because he's only 21!!
No fight, more pertinently, no quality in his game. The boy is regressing, his Anfield career dying on the vine. Let's hope that the summer recruitment mandate for Klopp includes two quality out-and-out strikers with the outside perception of dying for the cause and the inside perception of vintage.
 

Man City

- I expect us to beat them to be fair (top-six side innit). Still, a defeat wouldn't be catastrophic. We just need a performance that empowers the players and sets us up for the season’s run-in. If we beat Everton then this recent sequence of results would appear reasonable in the wider scheme of things.

Sad state of affairs for our great club when we are considering ‘reasonable’ is enough.
 

Cheers.
 

M

[Chip Butty]

Yeah, Can MoTM for me as well.

Don't know abar that, but then again who was to be honest? Highlight for me was the Coutinho substitution, with some mouthy cunt screaming it should be Can and how he's stalling on his contract blah, blah, and this tit carried on just long enough for Can to pick the ball up and bury it in the bottom corner. That eye wipe was the highlight of the day.

 

And when you say winning ugly, you're not wrong, its was hideously Ian Dowie winning.

[sir roger]

I don't think Origi has won a header this season never mind yesterday.

[jimmycase]

I don't think Origi has won a header this season never mind yesterday.

 

Hit the post with a header against arsenal the other week.

[jimmycase]

Don't know abar that, but then again who was to be honest? Highlight for me was the Coutinho substitution, with some mouthy cunt screaming it should be Can and how he's stalling on his contract blah, blah, and this tit carried on just long enough for Can to pick the ball up and bury it in the bottom corner. That eye wipe was the highlight of the day.

 

And when you say winning ugly, you're not wrong, its was hideously Ian Dowie winning.

 

Yeah Im not saying he was brilliant all game like but I think he was better than most of the others.

 

Hehe, dowie is an ugly get. im surprised they let him on the tv to give score updates. Could frighten the kiddies for life!

[dave u]

I completely forgot about Ward and I thought Hendrick was one of those "yeah, my grandad is Irish, honestly, please please please let me play international football" crew, so I deliberately didn't count him.

 

Turns out he's actually proper Irish though, so my bad. So hard to tell these days, same with Wales and Scotland, their squads are full of England rejects too.

 

*puts on tin hat and heads for the hills*

[s(k)aturation]

I completely forgot about Ward and I thought Hendrick was one of those "yeah, my grandad is Irish, honestly, please please please let me play international football" crew, so I deliberately didn't count him.

 

Turns out he's actually proper Irish though, so my bad. So hard to tell these days, same with Wales and Scotland, their squads are full of England rejects too.

 

*puts on tin hat and heads for the hills*

 

 

Thank you, Oliver Cromwell.

[Kevin D]

  “Winning ugly” is the expression everyone is using to describe this one. Even Klopp used it. This was more than ugly though, it was grotesque. If this game were a person it would be Katie Hopkins. It was utterly wretched. 

 

Does it really matter though? I don’t think it does in this particular instance. The result is the only thing that matters on this occasion. We can get back to our fancy footy next week when we play City, a team that will let us play and won't be partying like it's 1982. 

 

We took the three points and we won’t have to play another game like this again until next season, because nobody else plays like Burnley. They’re a one off, a throwback to a bygone era. 

 

Eleven British players, rigid 4-4-2 system, the keeper launching free-kicks into our box from the halfway line…. it was as though they’d time travelled from the 80s to come and play us. It’s just a damn shame we can’t bring our own team from the 80s to come and play now, instead we're stuck with this lot. 

 

We were shite, there’s no getting away from that, but it wasn’t all about us. It’s hard to look good against Burnley and you only have to look at their results away to the rest of the top teams to see that. Only Chelsea had it easy against them, winning 3-0. 

 

The Mancs drew 0-0 with them and everyone else won 2-1, just like we did. So this isn’t really anything to be unduly concerned by. It’s actually pretty standard as Burnley are awkward bastards, and I mean that as a compliment. 

 This is just a teaser, click here to view the full report

 

 

Please note that Match Reports are only available to website subscribers. Subscriptions cost just £2 a month (you need to register first) and can be purchased here. If you are not currently registered on the site, sign up for free and receive a FREE no obligation trial subscription, which gives you access to all the members only content for THREE MONTHS.

I reckon Usher was pissed when he wrote that.

[William_Ulsterman]

11 British players? Think there were at least 2 irish in the starting line up.

 

Anybody else hear Martin Tyler's northern Ireland impression 'here's mee'. Really wanted Burnley to have a player called wah that he could have passed it to at that moment.

 

haha, my best mates favorite saying is "Heres Mee, Watt?"

[William_Ulsterman]

11 British players? Think there were at least 2 irish in the starting line up.

 

Anybody else hear Martin Tyler's northern Ireland impression 'here's mee'. Really wanted Burnley to have a player called wah that he could have passed it to at that moment.

 

or a "Yu". to Mee, to Yu. hours of endless punnery