LIVERPOOL 2
Jota (18), Mane (69)
BURNLEY 0
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp expressed his unhappiness about challenges by Burnley players after his side’s victory over the Clarets at Anfield.
Klopp spoke of his concern over the idea of letting the game flow more and stressed the importance of protecting players, adding: “Watch wrestling if you like these kind of things.”
The Reds won, with Diogo Jota scoring an 18th-minute header and Sadio Mane doubling the lead with a 69th-minute strike.
Klopp said: “Burnley was never a game where you are just flying or whatever and can outplay them, or at least not for us.
“We always had to be ready for a proper fight. We were today in a really difficult game, because you saw these challenges with Ashley Barnes and Chris Wood and Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip.
“I’m not 100% sure if we are really going in the right direction with these kind of decisions. It feels like we go back 10, 15 years back to when we said, ‘Oh, that was the football we wanted to see.’ It’s just too dangerous.
“You cannot really touch the situations. It’s just hard. The rules are what they are, but the thing is you can’t defend these situations.
“Nick Pope is the first one, then Ben Mee and James Tarkowski the next one, and that’s how it makes the game really tricky. That’s not the only balls they played, but they are the most difficult to defend.”
He added: “There’s one message now, let the game flow, and now nobody knows exactly what that means.
“I like all decisions in favour for the offensive team, that’s fine. But we have to stick to protecting the players.”
Burnley – who had won 1-0 on their last visit to Anfield in January to end Liverpool’s 68-game unbeaten home run in the league – caused the hosts some problems, but could not prevent another defeat, a week on from losing their opener 2-1 to Brighton.
Burnley boss Sean Dyche, whose side have started with two losses, said: “Overall it was a decent performance. Tough place to come – it is generally, but with the crowd back in, the noise and feel of it. I thought the players handled that really well.
“We didn’t quite find that killer moment, but there’s the right feel about the group.”