BURNLEY 0 – 1 LIVERPOOL

Liverpool: Salah 90+4’ (pen)

Pre-Match

The most important part of today is that this is the end of the international break for Liverpool and boy is it welcome. Jeremie Frimpong is back from his short injury spell, and although Curtis Jones will miss out after getting injured against Arsenal, and it’s unlikely we’ll see Alexander Isak, it still feels like we’re ready to pick up where we left off. Undefeated. Burnley is likely to put up a fight, so we should hopefully get a good game out of it. The last time

we faced them was at Anfield in February 2024, and though all three of the goal scorers on that day aren’t in this squad (although yes figuratively one will always be with us), it’ll be a perfect chance for some new forwards to make a mark and get the Reds a nice away win.

First Half

Off we go at the Turf Moor in those new sea green kit. Liverpool take possession early on, and as usual with most international breaks, look to be shaking off some cobwebs. Not as quick of a start as maybe some would’ve hoped, but they’ve been holding onto the ball mostly well in these opening five minutes, until the sixth minute when Burnley pick up a misplaced pass from Virgil Van Dijk and get all the way to goal before the effort goes skyward. Liverpool win a few corners, and the closest chance comes from Ibrahima Konate’s head, though that also sends the ball too high up. A problem has happened, though, as Lesley Ugochukwu goes through into Alexis Mac Allister’s ankle and sends the midfielder down, but it looks like our Argentinian might be able to continue. Maybe. He is walking very gingerly.

I’ll tell you, I did not miss the physicality that Burnley play with. Managers may change but they’ve always been a bruiser of a team, and even now they’re still tripping our players left and right. It doesn’t help that Hugo Ekitike is built like a baby deer with his limbs all over the place. Despite a couple of blips, the Reds have still had most of the possession, but credit to Burnley and their bus, they haven’t been able to find the back of the net because of well placed defenders. It’s almost like training had the goal somehow five feet off the ground and that’s what they’re aiming for. It helps though that Burnley can’t get anywhere near our final third and make something of their placements.

Milos Kerkez has not had the best day out, and it looks like ruthless Arne is going to make a change early, as Andy Robertson is seen pulling his shirt on around the 35 minute mark. Kerkez has already gotten a yellow for “simulation” and is getting riled up all over the park, so Robertson comes in to take over and hopefully keep that left side a little more under control. It’s better than losing a man to Kerkez getting a second yellow, to be fair. The second half might be better, as it often is when it comes to this modern Liverpool, but there isn’t much more to change to get the Reds around this compact Burnley.

Second Half

Slot makes another change at halftime, bringing in Conor Bradley so Dominik Szoboszlai can move into midfield and presumably take Mac Allister off to rest that ankle that was crunched. Liverpool win another corner early on and Gravenberch has a chance but once again sends it over the crossbar. It feels like our only big chances are coming from corners right now which is a blessing and a curse because we can’t see to get our aim right. We’ve gotten closer to goal in the opening minutes of this half, and sped up our tempo a little bit, but it feels like we have more than a couple obstacles in our way. Florian Wirtz has definitely come alive in this match, putting his skills on display and getting as close to goal as we’ve gotten, but his effort goes wide despite passing through three defenders. Szoboszlai tries from distance again and forces Martin Dubravka to make the save, but the Reds are on the verge of a breakthrough.

Even with all the possession, and getting so close to goal you can touch it, we can’t find the back of the net somehow. Slot might be looking to make some more changes as we approach the 70th minute, and it’s pretty clear that something might have to change to force a goal and hopefully in Liverpool’s favor. The crowd is practically begging for Federico Chiesa, and maybe with Mohamed Salah’s slow start the Italian might be a welcome change. Sure enough, in the 71st minute, Ekitike makes way for Chiesa and we get a peek at where Chiesa might be playing later in the season. Chiesa even gets a peach of a pass and misplaces the angle of his head, continuing our bad luck today. We just need one, lads. We just need one.

Burnley have started time wasting after Conor Bradley goes in for a tackle and clips an ankle, but Anthony tries to milk it for all its worth. We’re entering the last fifteen minutes of the match and Liverpool look even less likely to score now than they did twenty minutes ago. At least all of our skyward shots have led to corners but even those have been ineffective. We’re clearly getting frustrated and that doesn’t bode well for the end of this match (or maybe it could when we find another chance to breakthrough). Burnley finally get their just desserts, as Ugochukwu receives a second yellow and gets sent off for admittedly a soft tackle, but for a team that’s been pushing us around all day it feels justified. Liverpool were in the middle of making another change, with Jeremie Frimpong and Rio Ngumoha waiting on the touchline to come on for Wirtz and Konate, as we look for speed to take advantage of Burnley being down a man. There’s only five minutes of added time, so this is when Liverpool can make magic, but it might not happen today.

JUST KIDDING THERE’S A HANDBALL AND LIVERPOOL WIN A PENALTY! PENALTYPOOL LIVES!!! Mo Salah steps up AND PUTS US AHEAD! Nothing like a forced handball to get us the chance we haven’t been able to finish all day.