Andy Hunter was at Anfield for the Guardian to see Liverpool take the points courtesy of a goal in each half from Diogo Jota and Sadio Mane.
And he’s not a happy bunny. “Burnley is never a game where you can just outplay them, you have to be ready for a proper fight,” he tells BT Sport. “We were today in a really difficult game. You saw these challenges with Barnes and Wood on Virgil and Joel and it’s like … [shoulder shrug] … I’m not 100% sure if we’re going in the right direction with these kind of decisions. It feels like we go ten or 15 years back to ‘Oh, that’s the kind of football we wanted to see’, or whatever.
“It’s just too dangerous. You cannot really judge the situations. How you get up in the air, that’s fine. But when you get down and they stand still in the defender, it’s just hard. The rules are like they are but you cannot defend these situations. How do you want to avoid these situations?”
I’m not sure what he’s on about, to be honest … but he has a right bee in his bonnet. I think he’s upset with Burnley players nudging his players in the air in the Liverpool box and preventing them from jumping to reach high balls in the Burnley box. He wants more protection for his players.
“The performance was good at times but there are places where we can improve, of course,” says Liverpool’s captain in an interview with BT Sport. “Overall we’re delighted. Fans are back, it was great to have them back, they gave us a lift and we got the result in the end, so that’s the most important thing.
“It keeps you going at times, the emotion of it. Burnley are a good side. They make it difficult and we knew that before the game. They certainly did that, with the set pieces and the long balls in behind, but I thought overall we dealt with it quite well and we could have scored more goals if we’re being honest.”
A quick recap: Liverpool were made to work very hard for their win but Liverpool’s classd told in the end. Burnley probably had the upper hand when Liverpool took their first half lead, with Dwight McNeil and Chris Wood causing them all sorts of bother.
Liverpool took a stranglehold on the game in the second half, with Sadio Mane hammering home to round off a fine move involving Virgil van Dijk, Harvey Elliott and Trent Alexander-Arnold. Burnley spurned a couple of chances to pull a goal back, none better than Ashley Barnes with one of the final kicks of the game.
Peep! Peep! Peeeeeeeeeep! It’s all over at Anfield, where goals from Diogo Jota and Sadio Mane have secured the points for Liverpool. Their second half performance was more convincing than that of the opening 45 minutes and they had to work hard for their win. Making his Premier League debut for Liverpool, young Harvey Elliott was excellent, while Trent Alexander-Arnold was also outstanding for the hosts. A deserved win for Liverpool but Burnley can take heart from a decent performance.
90+4 min: Alisson gets down to save with a strong left hand at the feet of Ashley Barnes after the Burnley striker had been played in behind. He should have scored.
90+ 4 min: Liverpool’s players ping the ball around amongst themselves as they attempt to play down the clock.
90+ 2 min: Burnley corner. Ben Mee heads the inswinger over the bar when he should have at least hit the target.
90+ 2 min: Liverpool have been trying to get Joe Gomez on to the field for several minutes woithout much success. Here he comes now, replacing Tsimikas with just two minutes of added time remaining.
90 min: Nursing a sore shoulder and about to be taken off, Tsimikas is played into trouble by Joel Matip, loses the ball and then fights hard to win it back. He earns himself a round of applause in the process.
88 min: Alisson saves well from Jay Rodriguez, clawing away his shot bound for the top corner from outside the Liverpool area. Offside.
87 min: Salah is released down the right by Elliott and drills a low ball towards Mane in the Burnley penalty area. Inexplicably, the Senegalese feels to make contact. That’s unlikely to do much to end the occasional frostiness between the duo.
85 min: Alisson punches clear under pressure from Jay Rodriguez, after Jack Cork sent a ball from deep into the Liverpool penalty area.
84 min: Salah tees up Trent Alexander-Arnold on the edge of the Burnley penalty area. He tries to bend a shot past Nick Pope but fails to apply sufficient curl on his effort.
81 min: It’s six of one and a half-dozen of the other as Tsimikas is penalised for grappling after getting the better of McNeil in a chase towards the Burnley goal. Liverpool’s Greek left-back had got the better of his man there and was through on goal – a let-off for Burnley.
80 min: Liverpool double-substitution: Thiago Alcantara and Roberto Firmino on for Naby Kieta and Diogo Jota.
79 min: Burnley substitution: Erik Pieters on for Johann Gudmundsson.
77 min: Josh Brownhill is penalised for leading with his arm in a challenge on Harvey Elliott. Down on the touchline, Jurgen Klopp is having a furious argument with Sean Dyche and his assistant coaches, Steve Stone and Ian Woan. “Stone, Woan and Moan,” as my sometimes colleague Mark Webster has labelled them.
75 min: Mo Salah gets thre better of Charlie Taylor down the inside right and elects to try to curl the ball into the top corner rather than pick out Sadio Mane. The ball drifts well wide and Mane makes no secret of his irritation. Burnley substitution: Jay Rodriguez has replaced Chris Wood.
70 min: Ben Mee sticks out his left foot to dispossess Harvey Elliott and is harshly penalised. “Effing joke!” he spits in the direction of Mike Dean, although I may be paraphrasing.
From the ensuing, undeserved free-kick, Ashley Barnes is forced to hack clear from a yard or two away from his own goal as Virgil van Dijk threatens to extend Liverpool’s lead with a downward header. Having been bang in this match giving Liverpool plenty to think about at 1-0 down, Burnley are on the ropes.
69 min: That was a splendid goal. Virgil van Dijk played a sublime pin-point pass to Harvey Elliott on the right touchline from deep. He cut inside and combined with Trent Alexander-Arnold, whose deft touch set up Sadio Mane to hammer a low drive past Pope from about 12 yards out.
Sadio Mane finishes a slick passing move to double Liverpool’s lead.
67 min: Tarkowski meets a Gudmundsson cross from the right in the Liverpool penalty area. It’s an inch or three too high for him and he is unable to steer his header goalwards. Wide.
65 min: Sadio Mane rises unchallenged to meet another Trent Alexander-Cross. He doesn’t get much power behind his effort and the ball drops into the gloves of Nick Pope.
64 min: Harvey Elliott is having an impressive league debut in the red of Liverpool. He wins another corner for Liverpool after having a cross blocked. Nothing comes of it.
61 min: Liverpool corner after Nick Pope manages to keep out a Sadio Mane effort that looked destined for the back of the net. I’m not sure how much the Burnley goalkeeper knew about that shot on the turn through a thicket of bodies but he stopped it. Nothing comes from the ensuing corner.
60 min: Dwight McNeil blocks a goal-bound shot from Mo Salah, who had chested down a cross from Harvey Elliott, before twisting and turning to create a yard of space to fire a shot off.
58 min: Virgil van Dijk volleys a Trent Alexander-Arnold inswinger goalwards. His shot looks destined to end up in the bottom corner but takes a deflection off Ben Mee to go wide. Mike Dean awards a goal-kick, believing the ball to have gone out off Sadio Mane.
56 min: His metaphorical hat. The Burnley goalkeeper is not actually wearing any headwear.
55 min: Under pressure from Lowton, Sadio Mane is unable to get any power on his shot on the turn as he connects with a neat Diogo Jota pass into the Burnley penalty area. Pope is able to throw his hat on the ball.
53 min: Ashley Barnes wins an unlikely corner with a challenge on Trent Alexander-Arnold. Brownhill’s inswinger is headed clear by Big Virgil. The Dutchman is on hand to hack clear when the ball returns from the edge of the penalty area off the head of a Burnley player.
51 min: Tarkowski seems to have hurt his jaw but looks OK to continue after a drink of water.
50 min: Tarkowski bangs heads with Mane as he clears with a towering header. There’s a break in play as he needs treatment.
48 min: Tsimikas wins a free-kick just outside his own penalty area after a collision with Gudmundsson as the pair challenged for a high ball. Gudmundsson was a little late.
46 min: Matt Lowton takes the ball past Jordan Henderson on the right side of the Liverpool penalty area and drills the ball into the centre. Ashley Barnes connects to fire the ball past Alisson, but was well offside.
46 min: Burnley get the second half started with no changes in personnel on either side.
Peep! Liverpool may lead through Diogo Jota’s first-half header but one suspects Sean Dyche might be the happier of the two managers. His side have more than held their own after an entertaining first half and posed plenty of problems for Liverpool in the process. Chris Wood has been a constant menace, while Tarkowski will consider himself unlucky not to have made Alisson look foolish just a couple of minutes ago. His effort might well have been chalked off if it had gone in but I saw no harm in his challenge on Alisson.
45+2 min: Alisson launches the ball long and Liverpool win a throw-in deep in Burnley territory. Sane takes it and Mike Dean blows for the interval.
45 min: Burnley free-kick, just inside their own half. Tarkowski beats Alisson to the dropping ball from deep at the edge of the Liverpool penalty area. He outmuscles the goalkeeper, who failed in his effort to punch clear, and directs a header goalwards. Anfield holds its breath then sighs with relief as the ball bounces wide of the right upright.
43 min: Running towards his own goal, Ben Mee hooks a long Jordan Henderson ball from deep out for a throw-in with Mo Salah snapping at his heels. Good defending.
41 min: Liverpool advance with Jota on the ball. He feeds it to Mane, who plays it into the path of Elliott. The teenager is unable to steer his first-time shot on target. The ball breaks to Salah on the edge of the area, but his shot is blocked by Ben Mee.
38 min: Liverpool attack on the break and Elliott plays the ball to Henderson, who stands it up at the far post. Pope punches clear under pressure from Diogo Jota, taking out his team-mate James Tarkowski in the process.
35 min: Trent Alexander-Arnold gallops on to a ball down the inside right and pulls itl back towards Mo Salah from the byline. His shot is blocked by Jack Cork.
33 min: They’re a goal down and came within the width of a bus ticket of being two down, but Burnley have played well in this opening half-hour. They’ve been uncharacteristally pro-active and look quite threatening in the final third.
31 min: Sadio Mane shins the ball over the bar after getting between two defenders to connect on the volley with a ball over the top from Trent Alexander-Arnold.
29 min: Regardless of the illegality of the finish, that was a fine move from Liverpool. It finished with Elliott playing a lovely weighted ball in behind to Salah and the Egytian curled a shot around Pope and inside the far post from a tight angle. He’d mistimed his run, however and the strike was correctly ruled out.
28 min: It’s as you were after Salah’s excellent strike is ruled out for offside: Liverpool 1-0 Burnley.
That’s a fine finish from Mo Salah who sidefoots home from a tight angle after being played in by Harvey Elliott. But was he offside?
24 min: In the latest act of a frenetic few minutes, Mo Salah brings a smart save out of Nick Pope with a shot from distance. Good work by Elliott on the break to send the Egyptian on his way.
22 min: Burnley free-kick wide on the right. Tarkowski makes an untracked run to the far post as the ball is floated his way from a quickly taken free-kick. The central defender connects with the ball but is unable to steer it on target.
20 min: Good, aggressive play by Jack Cork near the edge of the Liverpool penalty area leads to Josh Brownhill shooting from distance. Alisson saves at his near post.
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