Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
This draw hurt like a defeat... it’s why Klopp’s runaway Reds are champions
THEY are still stockpiling the records, setting new benchmarks but Jurgen Klopp’s sullen expression told the story.
Crowned champions what seems like an age ago, luxuriating in 20-odd points of superiority at the top of the table, unbeaten at home in the Premier League for over three years.
Yet a draw against Burnley hurt.
It hurt Klopp, it hurt stand-in skipper Virgil van Dijk, it hurt every player out there.
That is why Mohamed Salah was cursing his errant finishing as he stomped off, that is why Trent Alexander-Arnold shook his head in despair, that is why Jurgen Klopp and Andy Robertson left the field angrily berating referee David Coote.
Klopp will use this to spur on his title-winners in the remaining three games, all of which they must win to surpass Manchester City’s record points tally.
First things first, not enough credit can be given to Sean Dyche’s Burnley, to the outstanding Nick Pope and to another beautiful finish from Jay Rodriguez.
Outclassed for large swathes of the match, their attitude was first class, never relenting in their application. Burnley’s approach made this contest a hugely enjoyable one.
They could even have nicked it in the closing stages after the Rodriguez shot-on-the-spin had cancelled out Robertson’s sweet first-half header.
But Klopp and his players still left the pitch reproaching themselves as though they had dropped two points in a title race too close to call.
That is a measure of this team. They must now win at Arsenal and Newcastle, and then beat
Chelsea in their final home game to surpass those 100 points accrued by the Manchester
City of
2017-18. But after this cracking match, it is worth remembering Liverpool are setting exceptional standards. And that is exactly why this result was such a surprise. As the club’s owners are steeped in American sport, they are bound to love a stat or three and this Liverpool team is still building a monument of records. Klopp’s side are now unbeaten in their last 58 league games at Anfield, winning 47 and drawing 11 in a sequence that stretches back to April, 2017.
Of the last 114 points up for grabs at home, Liverpool have banked 108. There are plenty more, along with little nuggets like the fact the last time Alisson was on a losing side at Anfield, he was playing for Roma.
Of course, there is the old saying about lies, damned lies and statistics, but these ones speak the unarguable truth.
There has not been a Premier League side as dominant as this Liverpool. And that is why they will be kicking themselves for not putting the outcome of this fixture beyond doubt long before the intervention of Rodriguez.
Salah, in particular, will be ruing his wastefulness, but the imposing reason why Robertson’s nod from Fabinho’s clip was Liverpool’s sole scoring moment was the performance of Pope.
Two of his saves were truly world-class, his England dethronement of Jordan Pickford surely an inevitability.
And the laser finish from Rodriguez also gave Pope an added bonus as he kept his one clean-sheet lead over Alisson in the battle for the Golden Glove.
In the grand scheme of things, of course, Pope’s brilliance and Burnley’s resilience will soon be forgotten.
As will the fact Liverpool failed to record a 17th Premier League victory of the season at Anfield.
But make no mistake, this hurt – that’s why they are champions.