The Liverpool player ratings following a disappointing away loss against newly promoted Burnley
This pretty much sums up the position of Liverpool football club in the modern game. We can demolish Barcelona in preseason, beat Arsenal on the opening day, and then lose against Burnley.
Within the first two minutes of the match, Sam Vokes capitalised on a Liverpool mistake to put Burnley ahead. From here, things just seemed to get worse. We already expected a tough challenge in breaking down a side with a very good defence at home, but after scoring they locked up tighter.
Liverpool got caught several times when trying to build up play, and Burnley just played the counter in order to score a second goal, wrapping up the result.
Liverpool had 81% possession, taking 26 shots but only managing to land 5 on target. The team didn’t exactly play terrible, but they just lacked any quality in the final third and got caught-out when trying to attack with numbers.
Some exceptionally bad attacking play hindered our chances, along with poor defending and perhaps a weak selection of players.
For instance, Jurgen Klopp choosing to deploy Jordan Henderson as the deepest midfielder (leaving him alone while Adam Lallana and Georginio Wijnaldum pushed forward) resulted in a weaker performance from the skipper who struggled to deal with the Burnley counters.
How long can we all ride the Jurgen Klopp trust train? At what point do we start to question his late changes and inability to help us beat the weaker teams in the league? It’s early in the season, but a loss against a newly promoted side already suggests we’re secretly the same old Liverpool.
Big teams bring out the best in us, but when we face a smaller side that plays defensive football we simply cannot make the goals and truly dominate (apart from in possession).
Here’s our player ratings for this poor match against Burnley.
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