Saturday August 20th 10:00AM
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I walked in from playing basketball at 10:03am to find us already down 1-0 inside 2 minutes. After watching the game it was easy to see why. It was the classic game where we could have played for 6 hours and we were never going to score. In 90 minutes of football we could not create a real chance against a team many have tipped for relegation.
Jurgen Klopp has to shoulder some of the blame. He was completely out-tactic’d by Sean Dyche and it looked like Burnley parking the bus with 2 extremely disciplined banks of 4 sitting in front of the goal keeper took him by surprise, which it obviously shouldn’t have. Liverpool had no ideas. The effort from the players was one of the most embarrassing I’ve seen of professionals and quickly erased the high of beating Arsenal at the Emirates on opening day.
One of the most shocking weaknesses was how little movement there was off the ball. There was no one making runs into the box. We seemed perfect content to just play the ball out side, back to a non-threatening position in the center of the pitch, then back out wide again. Burnley were all too happy to let us do that. On the occasion we did put a cross into the box there was no one there to receive it and the cycle repeated itself for 90 minutes.
We also seemed inexplicably adamant about playing the ball out from the back. Burnley did what I expect most teams to do as long as we are stubborn enough to play the ball out of the back at all costs and as our only option and press our backline without sacrificing their midfield or defense. We all too easily gave the ball away with Clyne committing an uncharacteristic poor pass to lead to the first goal but even after that we never seemed comfortable playing out of the back, just like we didn’t for the first 40 minutes or so at Arsenal. There is a time to hoof the ball up field and there is nothing wrong with giving the defense something else to think about. We’re all too predictable at the moment.
The Players
MOTM – None I did not expect to do this and usually you can find the silver lining but this game the effort and performance of every single player was inexcusable and poor.
Honorable Mentions
None
Not So Honorable Mention
Everyone
Mignolet – Not much he could do about either goal but his distribution was as awful as ever. If we’re going to play out of the back he’s not the keeper to start those moves.
Clyne – Awful pass to lead to the Burnley opener after just 2 minutes. We don’t exactly put our defenders in good spots when they receive the ball, but someone as consistent as Clyne must do better there.
Lovren – Looking more and more like the Lovren under BR than the second half of last season under Klopp
Klavan – Could have closed down better on the 2nd goal. Unlucky bounce off Gray but could have done better to break up the play completely. Could have maybe covered for Lovren on the first as well and closed down a bit harder.
Milner – As boring and useless as the boring James Milner twitter account. Burnley were thrilled to push every attack out to a wide open Milner who did nothing and didn’t come close to threatening one time.
Lallana -- I can’t watch him do his lazy pirouettes anymore and lose possession. I’m glad he’s not as advanced in the attack as he was last year, as he simply cannot finish (last week aside) but I’m not sure he’s a deep midfielder either. He hustles but gets knocked off the ball so easily and takes way too many touches.
Henderson – One of the worst players in the side. Teams know to pressure the **** out of him as soon as he touches the ball and he’s not good enough to make something happen when they do. When he’s not under pressure he’s all to happy to play the safest pass possible. He was the player who had to attack and create something and force the tempo against a team who was parked to defend and he could not do so. Defensively he was abysmal. Conceded possession too easily, did not nothing to break up an attack or win the ball back, and ran right past Gray for the 2nd goal just as he did for the Oxalade-Chamberlain goal the week before. Wasn’t our worst player on the day but right now him and Moreno are the weak links in this team. Worst of all was his leadership. That team had nobody to sort them out or bring them together and Jordan Henderson is supposed to be the captain.
Wijnaldum – Did he even play? Completely invisible. This money needed to be spent on a true midfielder. Instead we have a bunch of attacking players we are trying to shoehorn into unnatural positions
Coutinho – Really bad day for him. Nothing as coming off and his shots from distance weren’t coming close to the target. Unlike some I’m ok with him taking them though, as they truly looked like our only chance of scoring as we were creating nothing and he’s won games with those efforts in the past. Wasn’t to be today. He also gave away possession too often and had some very lazy passes. His movement was the best of a poor bunch I thought but was by no means good.

Firmino – He is a very frustrating player. He didn’t appear to break into anything resembling a sprint all game and all too often appears to be strolling around on the pitch without any urgency. Had no impact on the game today. He’s not a #9 and Klopp puzzling seemed to play him as the most advanced player with Sturridge out right.
Sturridge -- He did not look fit or interested. One of the worst performances I’ve seen of him in a Liverpool shirt. Created nothing. Sulked. Lost possession, including the counter that led to the 2nd Burnley goal. However if he’s in the team I want him in the center of the box with us creating chances for him not stuck out wide.
Overall this is a performance to forget and luckily for Liverpool and their supporters they can do so with a League Cup game on Tuesday vs. Burton Albion. There were players in today’s XI that should not be guaranteed their places and the League Cup is the perfect place for other players to stake a claim for their spot. I’d like to see Can, Grujic, and Ings all given chances with the possibility of playing against Tottenham next Saturday as well. Sadio Mane was a huge miss as he was out through injury with an injured shoulder. A player who maybe would have actually ran at the parked Burnley defense. Onto better days.