For those who predicted Liverpool to finish in the top four this season, today was not a promising sign. While I certainly applaud the pundits who made the unconventional prognostications placing the Reds back in UEFA Champions League, I was not one of them. They still look like a Europa League qualifying side to me, and Saturday brought a result that was not even befitting that status.
Yes, the 4-3 win over Arsenal in week one was impressive, but getting upset 2-0 by lowly Burnley is extremely discouraging.
It’s only one game, so it’s not the end of the world, but what’s even more alarming is the manner in which they lose to the newly promoted club.
They finished with 81% possession for game! Talk about a wasted opportunity! Not only did they lose, but the Reds fell by a two goal margin, which seems like it would be pretty difficult to do when your opponent only has the ball for 19% of the game.
“[Possession] is what we did well,” Liverpool Manager Jurgen Klopp said after the upset loss.
“But in the end you have to use it. It’s not allowed that you suffer under your own ball possession, that makes no sense.
“It’s not that we didn’t want it — six or seven times Phil [Coutinho] alone was in the right position to shoot. In England you use the word ‘clinical’ — in a lot of situations I saw we were clinical but even then we didn’t score. That’s how it is and we have to accept it.”
“I will watch the game again and I am pretty sure I will not see a lot of surprises in this game, I saw everything.”
Klopp added:
“Our timing and decision-making today was not really good. It might have been forced by the result and by the passion of the opponent, but it is how it is.”
“We lost in a game in which we had in both halves about 80 per cent possession, but there are different ways to play football, that’s absolutely OK. Especially the two strikers of Burnley, Vokes and Gray, did really well, physically strong guys.”
“The rest defended with big heart. I respect this but usually in a game like this, we win, if we don’t make mistakes in the wrong moment. But we did. Now we have to accept the result and carry on,” Klopp continued.
In defense of Klopp and Liverpool, Burnley played their hearts out. This was the Turf Moor Super Bowl. Kudos to Klopp for being a sportsman and pointing out just strong The Clarets attack was today.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.