Liverpool shock as Burnley win at Anfield
Barnes spot-on to end Reds’ 68-game unbeaten home run
LIVERPOOL’S unbeaten home sequence came crashing down last night as Burnley dramatically rocked the champions.
Ashley Barnes’s 83rd-minute penalty secured Burnley’s first win at Anfield since 1974 and ensured the champions suffered their first Premier League defeat at home since April 2017 — a run of 68 games. They have also gone 436 minutes without scoring in the league.
It left Liverpool six points behind leaders Manchester United in fourth and, as their season went from bad to worse, Klopp and his players paid a heavy price for picking a fight with the wrong people.
As half-time neared at Anfield, Liverpool defender Fabinho appeared to kick out needlessly at Barnes. The Brazilian was booked and, as Klopp made his way down the players’ tunnel, he became embroiled in a furious row with opposite number Sean Dyche.
Roll forward almost an hour and with Liverpool desperately pushing for a win, Burnley broke to score the shock winner.
Again Fabinho and Barnes were central figures. As the Burnley player looked to dart into the penalty area, Fabinho tried to block him. He failed, and when keeper Alisson brought Barnes down, the same player recovered to score the penalty.
Klopp said: ‘Everything, all the English words, massive, massive punch in the face or whatever, it’s my responsibility, that’s the easy explanation.
‘We had the ball a lot, created some and didn’t finish the situations off. That keeps the game open and then they get the penalty — Alisson told me he didn’t touch him, but I didn’t see it back.
‘It’s wrong decisions, three crosses in the box, we tried to find a player, didn’t. It’s my job to make sure the boys are in the right position, that they feel right.
‘It’s not about blaming, we have to sort it together and we will. We can’t imagine the title race at the moment.’
Liverpool were top when they scored seven to beat Crystal Palace a month ago but since then they have scored one goal in five league games and haven’t won any.
Next up is Manchester United in the FA Cup on Sunday but league games are looming at Spurs and West Ham.
Klopp made changes, with captain Jordan Henderson absent
and Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino on the bench. Joel Matip returned after injury.
Still they couldn’t get out of that rut of predictability in which they have been stuck of late.
They have become too easy to play against. Too much square passing. Too much that is slow. Too much that carries only a minimal threat. It will change — all teams go through fallow periods — but for the first half it was all too recognisable.
Liverpool looked sporadically dangerous. At times, they developed nice overlaps but did not always use them. Confidence and decisionmaking remains a problem.
Their best chance of the first period came from a Burnley error. Only a couple of minutes remained when Ben Mee tried to pass the ball back to his keeper from the halfway line. Divock Origi ran on to the miscued pass and controlled the ball well for a one-on-one with Nick Pope. He went for power and height but his shot struck the underside of the bar.
Previously Origi had delivered two shots from the edge of the penalty area but both were saved comfortably enough.
There were other moments of promise. Xherdan Shaqiri shot wide from 20 yards while Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold were denied by Pope and a block from Mee respectively.
At the other end, Alisson had to block a shot from Barnes after dropping a cross.
Barnes is always a nuisance, though why Fabinho kicked out at him just before half-time was a mystery. Whatever the reason, he was booked and Klopp and Dyche argued about the incident as they disappeared down the tunnel.
That spirit of aggression carried over into the second half. The game was quicker and Liverpool showed more urgency. Alexander-Arnold brought a sharp low save from Pope and then, after Salah and Firmino were sent on, the keeper made an even better save.
Gini Wijnaldum created the chance with a run from the edge of his own penalty area. He could have taken a shot but instead laid the ball off to Salah and Pope got a hand to his attempt.
Soon after, Salah set up Sadio Mane for a shot that ended up on the Kop. Liverpool were getting closer.
What a shock, then, when Barnes earned his big moment. He took the penalty well, driving it low to Alisson’s left, and though Burnley had to survive late pressure, Pope was not seriously inconvenienced again.
A delighted Dyche said: ‘We did the basics very well. Popey has still had to make good saves. I always believed in the side to find a moment and we had a few. Barnesy got the penalty and slotted it away well.’
And what about that row with Klopp? ‘It was nothing out the ordinary,’ he said, ‘just two managers fighting to win a game.’
LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Alisson 5; Alexander-Arnold 6, Matip 6, Fabinho 6, Robertson 6; Oxlade-Chamberlain 5 (Firmino 57), Thiago 7, Wijnaldum 6; Shaqiri 6 (Minamino 84), Mane 6, Origi 6 (Salah 57). Subs not used: Milner, Jones, Tsimikas, Phillips, Kelleher, Williams. Booked: Fabinho, Matip. BURNLEY (4-4-2): Pope 8; Lowton 6, Tarkowski 7, Mee 7, Taylor 6 (Pieters 49); Brady 6 (Gudmundsson 65), Westwood 7, Brownhill 6, McNeil 6; Wood 6, Barnes 7. Subs not used: Cork, Peacock-Farrell, Stephens, Rodriguez, Bardsley, Vydra, Long. Booked: Barnes. Man of the match: Nick Pope. Referee: Mike Dean.