Klopp plays ugly to def late Dyche
GRABBING three points with a dour and scruffy performance is clearly not beneath Jurgen Klopp.
A scrambling win over a stubborn Burnley allowed Liverpool to cement their claims to a top-four spot.
Goals from Georginio Wijnaldum on the stroke of half-time and a long-range effort on the hour from Emre Can cancelled out Ashley Barnes’s early strike and left Burnley wondering how they came away with nothing.
It was the fourth time Liverpool had come from behind this season to win a match yet while it earned them five points of breathing space over Arsenal in fifth place, it brought with it no plaudits for artistic impression.
Klopp described it as an “ugly” performance but suggested it was one Anfield may have to get used to if they are to keep a grip on their destiny with regard to Champions League qualification.
“If we want to stay where we are we need to win football games,” he said, almost apologetically.
“It was really good that we could do it, even like this. Usually we win the good games but in bad games and average games we need to be challenging too. You need to be ready for both.
“We were today and it was good to win. I said it was ‘ugly’ and maybe there are better words but what I wanted to say was it was not our best game – lots of intensity but not too much football.”
Klopp’s dismissal of a need for Plan B against sides like Burnley, the sorts of teams who provide a significant physical challenge or set up with minimal attacking ambition, led to intensive work on the training ground during the week, drilling his side with the need to execute their style quicker and better.
So it was a massive frustration to the Liverpool boss to see them go behind with the clock still on single figures for all that there was nothing much that could have been done to avoid it.
Right-back Matt Lowton started it by firing a diagonal pass from the right that bisected the two centrehalves perfectly and then landed at the end of Barnes’s lungbusting run towards the far post. The striker’s sliding finish gave Simon Mignolet no chance. The rest of the first half hammered out a frustrating pattern for Liverpool with bags of possession but nothing to show for it. Nothing, that is, until they grabbed the momentum going into the break, courtesy of a leveller from Wiljnaldum, his fifth this season. Unlike Burnley’s opener there was an element of luck with Ben Mee first blocking an effort from Wijnaldum eight yards out but slipping to give the Dutchman a second stab at the ball. He needed no further invitation, firing home past Tom Heaton. It gave Liverpool renewed spring and on the hour they got their noses in front through Can’s decider. Burnley allowed the German the room to drive towards goal after taking a short square pass from Divock Origi in a central position – and his shot sneaked inside the far post with Heaton, possibly unsighted, going down too late.
Both sides had chances to stretch clear or draw level late on, Sadio Mane seeing his effort tipped over by Heaton in the 90th minute and Lowton unable to get on top of a volley in a pinball finale, firing over from six yards.
A point would have been fair to both sides but Burnley’s search for a first win on the road this season rumbles on to the Stadium of Light next Saturday.
“I thought we deserved something,” said Clarets manager Sean Dyche.
“We ruffled their feathers and deliberately made it awkward. Today it is another ‘nearly’ but it is another loss on the road. We need to make it happen.”
Klopp said Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson would not be fit for next week’s trip to Manchester City, nor would he be ready to join up with England for the friendly against Germany on March 22 and World Cup qualifier against Lithuania the following week.
LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Goals: Booked: