THE MANE AT
JURGEN KLOPP hailed a “special” day at a packed Anfield after Liverpool made light work of Burnley.
Diogo Jota and Sadio Mane scored in either half and Klopp (right) was delighted with every aspect of a win made all the sweeter by the return of supporters to the stands.
Liverpool boss Klopp said: “I think nobody leaves this place with any kind of disappointment because all of our dreams were fulfilled today atmosphere-wise.
“It was the best 12.30 atmosphere we’ve had, it was really special. The game was special as well because Burnley is Burnley, they cause you problems and they caused us problems. We won the game, we played a good game, scored two and could have scored more.”
Despite being roared on by that enthusiastic crowd, the hosts were given an early scare when Dwight Mcneil struck the post with a left-footed strike from inside the box.
A late offside flag would have got them off the hook in that case, but there would have been no such reprieve had Chris Wood done better than to head Mcneil’s cross straight at Alisson moments later.
It seemed to take that chance to wake Liverpool up and they took the lead when Jota succeeded where Wood could not in nodding a left-wing cross home for 1-0. And only a marginal offside call from VAR denied the Reds a second shortly after, Mo Salah having moved slightly too early before latching on to impressive teenager Harvey Elliott’s pass to finish. The latter earned personal praise from Klopp, who said: “Everybody wants to speak to me about Harvey, but I understand absolutely when an 18-year-old boy plays such a mature game.
“But I was not surprised that he plays like this, that’s exactly how he trained now since he was back from loan.” Still, with Elliott’s first Premier League assist having been chalked off, Burnley’s threat remained and they almost levelled not long after the restart.
Matt Lowton showed wonderful feet before crossing for
Ashley
Barnes, whose celebrations at the Kop end were met by a raised offside flag.
As had been the case early in the first half, an opportunity for the visitors simply invited wave after wave of pressure in response.
But, with chances going begging, Liverpool fans were perhaps fearing a repeat of Burnley’s visit to Anfield last season, which saw the hosts take 27 shots en route to somehow losing.
Fortunately, Mane ensured there
would be no such disappointment when he smashed home after a superb Liverpool move, starting with Virgil van Dijk, helped by Elliott and a perfect Trent Alexander-arnold dink
that invited Mane
to finish off the fluent move in the manner it deserved.
And from there the Reds had little trouble seeing out the points, thanks in no small part to the fit-again centre-back partnership of Van Dijk and Joel Matip.
Klopp later insisted, though, that he will make use of his new-found depth in that position this season, adding: “They are both really good footballers, that’s how it is. But because of the things that happened in the last year, we needed the fourth centre-half and they will all play, we have to mix it up and we will do that.
“Nobody, especially after a long injury, should play all the time, three games in a week.”
As for Burnley boss Sean Dyche, he struck a positive note post-match, despite his side suffering a second straight defeat to start the season. He said: “Overall, it was a decent performance, it’s a tough place to come – it is generally, but especially with the crowd back in the stadium, the noise and the feel of it.
“We’ve got to tidy up details at both ends because we had chances again today and didn’t quite find that killer moment, the pass, the finish.
“There’s certainly the right energy and the right feel about the group at the minute, although we are limited in numbers once again.”
Everybody wants to speak about Harvey, but I was not surprised – that’s exactly how he has trained now since he was back from loan