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Burnley 1 Liverpool 3 (Dec 5 2018)


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Dave Usher

 

That’s a great win. I know it was only Burnley and they’re shite, but this was a big boy second half performance from the lads and it’s a huge three points. 

 

Seven changes and playing three days after a physically and emotionally draining Derby win, this was always going to be a grind. The first half was predictably gash and when we fell behind early in the second there’s no doubt we were in trouble. We’ve seen games like this before. Hell, we’ve seen them at this ground. I wasn't exactly panicking, but I was seriously concerned.

 

Two years ago we completely dominated the game, fell behind, couldn’t get back into it and then conceded another. This is a massively different team these days though. They’re battle hardened, know how to get results and don’t need to be at their best to do it. That said, I thought the second half display was really, really good.

 

I had no issue whatsoever with the team selection. I’ve said this before, but if we accept that players can’t play in every single game (which I think we all do, don’t we?), then we can’t complain when they’re left out, surely?

 

Ok, seven changes seems a little excessive, but Klopp doesn’t just do this on a whim. We’ve had a busy time of it and the fixture load gets even more hectic over the next couple of weeks. Mane and Robbo were injured, while leaving out Firmino was a no brainer. It made sense to freshen up the midfield too with Hendo, Milner and Keita.

 

Maybe Salah could have started considering Sadio and Bobby weren’t, but we’ve got some big games coming up and Klopp has to manage it as he sees fit. Some may call it arrogance, believing Klopp has thought “it’s only Burnley”, but I don’t see it that way. 

 

If he’d played his strongest eleven in this game he’d have had to leave a few out at the weekend when we go to Bournemouth. What’s the tougher looking game? Burnley might be more of a battle, but Bournemouth is the tougher fixture.

 

Besides, the line up that we put out should have been good enough to take care of Burnley. It wasn’t though and Klopp had to send for the cavalry in the second half. Most of the players who came in didn’t exactly enhance their hopes of a more regular start.

 

Moreno was ineffective, Origi never really got into the game, Sturridge took a long time to get going (he was good when he eventually did) and Matip was ok but had some problems dealing with the awkward Ashley Barnes, who’s the master of backing into defenders and winning free-kicks. He’s a right bastard to play against him, such a crafty fucker.

 

He’s great at what he does and for me he represents the only chance Burnley have of staying up. If he doesn’t start scoring goals they’ve had it, as he’s their most important player. He found the net in spectacular style in the first half but was rightly ruled offside. Great finish though.

 

He’s a handful. He robbed Van Dijk at one point and for a second it looked like trouble, but Virgil had caught up with him within about five yards and just shrugged him off like he was a little kid. Not many are going to do that to the powerful Barnes, but that’s Virgil for you, he’s a one off.

 

 

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Up early, Dave (ooooerrr)

Good report. I also agree about the tackling. My first thought was, I'd do the same if I was in Burnley's position. They were committed but not overly dirty.

 

To my eyes Keita actually looked fitter than I had seen him previously, maybe he just felt back to himself and was up for it? Who knows. But as long as he keeps this up it might mean less of Henderson who was just crab-like yet again and so ineffectual. If there was a party in a brothel he'd be the one making sure the place was kept clean while all around him were getting their end away. He has been a good servant but he's massively on the wane now and needs to play less and less as the season goes by.

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It's becoming a recurring theme now.  Trent Arnold free kick, Van Dijk with an assist and a forward mopping up on the line.  Fucking great stuff.

And the third goal was all one touch stuff, right from Alisson's quick throw.  3 touches, 8 or 9 seconds and it's in their net.  And fuck Dyche, the upside down headed ginger cunt.

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You can imagine Dyche's pre-match team talk. 57 kinds of codswallop about how Klopp was disrespecting them, treating them like a pub team, so let's get out there and show these nancy boys the best of British bulldog spirit. For England and St George! He won't be able to dip into that well again any time soon. No wonder he was pissed.

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Jurgen's point about the tackling is that it might be legal but it's reckless and the ref should be having a quiet word to cool it a bit before someone gets hurt. He didn't do it and in the end they mistimed a tackle and Moreno might have got injured.  Even then the ref completely ignored what was at least a yellow.   

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Agree with everything apart from the Burnley tackling. Their intent was clear - rough us up, make sure you leave something on the player. Much of it was reckless and occasionally out of control (i.e. yellow cards - but only 1 (!) was given to Burnley), and it was a matter of luck that there weren't other injuries. Leaving aside the Gomez situation, they took every opportunity to dive in on players right up against the touchline even though it was seldom necessary e.g. the ball was already going out of play.

The underlying issue is again one of consistency - we could barely touch any Everton player on Sunday without them falling over and being given a free kick - TAA's slight touch on Bernard that led to Mina's (offside) header. Yet last night, Burnley played as if they'd walked straight out 70's Division 1 football and it was deemed ok.

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Dyche is a fucking ballbag. Banging on about how Liverpool fans would rather see his fair tackling players than Sturridge diving.

 

No, what we’d like to see is you fired, never getting a job in any of the top four divisions, and your fucking grock squad relegated.

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I think the point about the tackling (sick of everyone on Sky saying it was ok today) was that if cautions were given out earlier then they might think more before they flew into more reckless ones.

I’m not saying the one on Gomez was too bad but if he’d been given a yellow earlier then he might not have risked it and then Gomez wouldn’t have gone flying into the hoardings. Klopp was understandably upset about Gomez’s injury.

Dyche going on about Sturridge ‘cheating’ was harsh.

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This felt like a cup game with all the changes and playing in the rain to some shitty lower league side so to win like that was very pleasing. Dyche said Sturridge was cheating for going down too easy yet that's exactly what Barnes did to win the free kick which they scored from (thankfully it was offside). Diving is bad but streetwise diving that the media doesn't pick up on is ok , he is a fucking hypocrite.

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12 hours ago, aws said:

We seem to be getting a lot of FA Cup-style refereeing lately.  I don't watch City much so can anyone who does say if they get it too.  

 

Well, Fernandinho seems to be able to commit a dozen fouls in every game before there's even a chance of getting booked. Just like alehouse cloggers in the FA Cup are allowed to boot our players up in the air because it's the "spirit of the FA Cup" or some such bollocks narrative.

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It is legitimate to be physical if you know you are outclassed but you cannot then complain the opposition "goes down easily" in anticipation of a clattering.

 

But watching those challenges reminded me of the two reds last satdee. Very soft in comparison to several of those tackles even if they did take the ball first.

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