Daniel’s Debrief: Liverpool 3-1 Burnley

Two things Liverpool have been very good at this season is winning the must-wins, and responding well to setbacks.

They do both here today. They take care of the business in hand and eventually have too much for a competitive Burnley outlet. They also show that last week can be put in a box and forgotten about for now. 

Today isn’t always pretty but it’s also one that they never look in danger of losing. The manager gets pretty much everything spot on today. 

The main decision he gets right is the halftime introduction of Harvey Elliott. It’s not the first time he’s made a huge impact on a Premier League game from the bench. He changes pretty much everything in terms of the dynamic of how the game is unfolding. 

Given the unavailability of so many players, partly due to illness, and partly due to injury, he can perhaps feel a little unlucky not to have started, and still has just three Premier League starts to his name this season.

Yet his impact on the campaign is so much greater than that stat suggests. 

It’s two young players that have had to fight through adversity and seemingly endless criticism that turn the game in Liverpool’s favour today - Elliott and Curtis Jones. 

Jones doesn’t have a great first half, and he’s not alone. The lack of cohesion and precision in Liverpool’s play during the opening stages is worrying and at times just feels like a continuation of last week at Arsenal.

There’s such a lack of rhythm but to be fair, you’ve got a second-choice goalkeeper, two full-backs who’ve been injured, one of whom isn’t fit, a centre-back with fewer than 20 appearances, and a midfield that contains a player who’s been on the other side of the world for a month and a player in a different position to what he’s been used to.

Perhaps fluency and familiarity was never going to come today.

Alexis Mac Allister is an interesting one. He comes to life later on in the game but for the first hour or so, has one of his quietest outings in a Liverpool shirt.

What’s fascinating is that despite so much clamour for him to play further forward, he’s been pretty average each time he’s been deployed as an 8 - Toulouse, Sheffield United, Newcastle and here today.

I think he’s such a smart footballer that can dictate from deep and has carved out a bit of a niche for how he playmakes and battles in the 6. Further forward, he doesn’t see enough of the ball and can’t orchestrate like he does deeper.

That being said, Wataru Endo is a welcome return and is terrific in the second half. His tenacity and ability to get his body in exactly the right position is such an asset for keeping us on the front foot.

So often he comes away with the ball when you’re not expecting him to.

What I think gets really under-appreciated about him is his passing range - two killer passes for chances that aren’t taken by Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez, and such different styles of passes too.

There’s some criticism for him losing Dara O’Shea for the equaliser on the stroke of half-time but when you have Luis Diaz and Endo, both of whom are 1.78m, marking O’Shea, a 1.85m centre-back, it’s a systematic issue rather than a personnel one.

He has such a slow start to the game but once he’s alive, he puts in a good showing. Whilst I do think our strongest midfield is Mac Allister, Szoboszlai and Curtis Jones, Endo is probably the first reserve on that list.

The Reds go in front through Diogo Jota’s header from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s corner. The set-pieces were good. Virgil Van Dijk has a free header from an Andy Robertson corner later in the game and the delivery from both full-backs throughout was of high quality.

Jota’s variety of Liverpool goals is incredible. Left, right and head. 

James Trafford could do better here and has little command of his area but the cross is on the money, as is the header. It’s pretty much the only time Liverpool produce any quality in the first half.

Losing Alexander-Arnold at half-time felt like a blow but he had been pretty quiet again in the first half. It’s now three players - Alexander-Arnold, Szoboszlai and Thiago that have picked up injuries just after returning and that’s a black mark against the medical team.

Alexander-Arnold’s departure leaves Jones at right-back. Without Joe Gomez and Conor Bradley, this could’ve been a major weak spot for the second half but the shift Jones puts in there is sensational.

He is technically and physically flawless for 45 minutes and plays the role like it’s one he knows. His skill level is unbelievable.

What a player he is. He’s so key to what Liverpool do both in this second half and in the season as a whole.

I’m not saying that he’s suddenly an option at right-back, but Jurgen Klopp loves players with versatility and recognises their importance to a squad.

Robertson has a decent enough game and is still working his way back up to fitness. He still offers a lot going forward and worked well with Diaz, but I maintain that our best football this season, particularly defensively, has come with Gomez at left-back.

Because Burnley get a few chances in this game that come from structural undoings of the Liverpool defence.

Caoimhin Kelleher is all-action to thwart Zeki Amdouni in the first half after some very lax Virgil Van Dijk defending, and two errors from Jarell Quansah create two separate chances for David Fofana and Wilson Odobert. 

Kelleher does well to deny Fofana’s first effort, while Odobert and then Fofana again shoot off target.

This was one of Kelleher’s better games of the season. I think Alisson could’ve perhaps saved the O’Shea header but other than that, Kelleher was good and whilst this was not planned, the Alisson illness at least meant that Kelleher got some gametime before the League Cup Final in a few weeks.

Like Kelleher, Elliott is another back-up player that steps up to the task brilliantly. Liverpool are so potent down that right-hand side in the second half and most of that comes through his great footwork and creativity.

It was the first time in the game that someone got their foot on the ball and played it into dangerous areas for the forwards to attack.

His vision and decision-making are so, so good. While his cross for the Diaz goal picks up a fortunate deflection, it’s Elliott’s positioning that allows him to deliver it into such a dangerous area where anything can happen.

He has a strange game, Diaz. Works very hard and sees plenty of the ball but kills a few counter-attacks with some slow decision-making and fails to release Nunez when he’s in acres of space in the second half.

But, much like the Arsenal game, he doesn’t give up on things and does really well to get his head down to meet the deflected cross.

Elliott’s cross to the back post for Nunez is delightful. He floats it with his left foot beautifully and Nunez arcs his neck to perfection to glance it home.

And Liverpool get the win with three headed goals - something we’ve not seen nearly enough of this season but the standard of crossing was really good here.

His movement all game was great, Nunez, and as I said, wasn’t found often enough. There’s one in added time where Endo plays a great pass to him and his first touch to control it is preposterously good, before a predictable effort straight at Trafford.

The Nunez goal starts from a Robertson cross that Jota lashes at. Not that it mattered as it ultimately ends up in the net, but how the clear handball from Fofana isn’t spotted here is incredible.

Tim Robinson has a pretty shocking afternoon for both teams. Jota is wrestled to the ground and denied a stonewall penalty in the first half, while Diaz’s goal shouldn’t have stood for a blatant foul by Mac Allister on Aaron Ramsey.

Both teams are hurt by this clownery and the fact that both Klopp and Vincent Kompany are booked is a reflection on Tim Robinson rather than the managers.

The next three league games are all must-win - Brentford, Luton and Forest. I know that there’s the small matter of a League Cup Final and an FA Cup fifth round tie in there too, but looking solely at the league, Liverpool can’t afford to drop points before Manchester City come to town in early March.

They’re motoring, City. With Kevin De Bruyne back and now Erling Haaland too, they’re looking a different proposition. 

But Liverpool are still the ones with top spot.

Daniel