Barnes penalty delivers shattering blow to Liverpool’s hopes of title defence
Liverpool’s near four-year unbeaten home record is over. So might be their title defence. Burnley and Sean Dyche triumphed where 68 predecessors failed, and perhaps what is most surprising is how unsurprising it felt by the time of Ashley Barnes’s winning penalty.
Sometimes you can smell a defeat when the team sheets arrive. There was a clue in Liverpool’s starting line-up, with Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino starting on the bench. Whatever analysis that is granted – they have hardly been in undroppable form of late – it signalled a manager searching for solutions in the least obvious places.
Jordan Henderson’s absence with a muscle injury maintained Liverpool’s structural imbalance. And lest we forget: Dyche arrived as one of only three managers to take a point from this stadium in the past two seasons. He could not have executed the game plan better. His team repelled, fought, blocked and harried their way to victory, taking advantage with a sucker punch after Alisson’s mistimed dive on Barnes.
It may be premature to start writing the obituary of Liverpool’s title defence, but this was the most worrying night in a recent downturn that has brought no goals and two defeats in four games. Jurgen Klopp’s side have not scored a league goal in 2021. Their last, by Sadio Mane against West Bromwich Albion, was over seven hours ago.
The champions had chances. They also hit the bar. But the attacking slickness that brought so much success is a memory, although the defeat could be attributed to sapping confidence or, as Klopp saw it, “poor decisions” in front of goal.
That is to take nothing away from Burnley, who did what they do at their best. Their centre-backs dealt comfortably with every cross, and if there is a better English goalkeeper than Nick Pope, who is it? It is not that he was overworked, but everything he does, he does so with ease.
Klopp’s growing concern was never more apparent than when, as referee Mike Dean blew for halftime, he cut short his usual dash towards the dressing room upon hearing a commotion on the pitch. Barnes had fallen under the challenge of Fabinho and Joel Matip, usually one of the quieter souls in the Liverpool dressing room, yelled at the striker for the ease with which he had gone to ground. While there was a melee outside, Klopp and Dyche argued in the tunnel. Dean booked Fabinho and, after a Var check, did nothing else. The incident seemed to say more about Liverpool’s emotional state, as if Klopp had a sense of foreboding.
Until recently, well-organised defensive teams have not halted Liverpool’s progress. Burnley’s ability to limit the hosts to hopeful shots from distance for most of the evening was another indication of what has changed. Liverpool’s indifferent results inspire countless theories as to why that is. The most obvious is that football during the pandemic has been generally low quality. Ally that to the absence of Virgil van Dijk – a centre-back who changed the course of Anfield history – and the investigation might be short.
But there is also truth in additional explanations. We cannot ignore the worryingly inconsistent period for the once lethal front three. There is also a style makeover in midfield when Thiago Alcantara, rather than Henderson and Fabinho, is the fulcrum. Yet again it was left to Georginio Wijnaldum to accept most of the burden.
Then there is the reluctance of the full-backs to play as wingers without the defensive security of the world’s best defender. At least Matip was back after injury, freeing Trent Alexander-arnold and Andrew Robertson to overlap more often than recently. But Burnley are the type of side who can tolerate high, whipped crosses from deep. Liverpool failed to deliver enough low crosses in advanced areas.
Their best chance of the first half came not from creativity, but from an error by Ben Mee, slicing his attempted backpass to Divock Origi. The striker could count himself
unlucky as his shot struck the underside of the bar, but in truth he should have been more accurate with only Pope to beat. It was no surprise when Salah and Firmino were finally introduced. It changed nothing. Firmino slicing wide after 71 minutes was symptomatic of shattered belief in front of goal. As was the case with West Brom and Manchester United in recent fixtures, the visitors’ threat grew in tandem with the hosts’ anxieties.
By the time Alisson, usually so reliable, scurried onto Barnes in the penalty area, the rest of the Premier League could see the clearest evidence of the champions faltering. Unless Liverpool reconnect with their former selves, their toils have not only opened the door for new Premier League winners, but perhaps also new Champions League qualifiers.
Liverpool (4-3-3) Alisson 6; Alexander-arnold 6, Fabinho 7, Matip 7, Robertson 6; Thiago 6, Wijnaldum 6, Shaqiri 6 (Minamino 84); Oxlade-chamberlain 5 (Firmino 57), Mane 6, Origi 5 (Salah 57). Subs Kelleher (g), Milner, Jones, Tsimikas, Phillips, N Williams. Booked Fabinho, Matip.
Burnley (4-4-2) Pope 8; Lowton 7, Tarkowski 8, Mee 8, Taylor 6 (Pieters 49); Mcneil 7, Westwood 6, Brownhill 6, Brady 6 (Gudmundsson 65); Wood 6, Barnes 7.
Subs Peacock-farrell (g), Cork, Stephens, Rodriguez, Bardsley, Vydra, Long. Booked Barnes.
Referee Mike Dean (Wirral).