As Liverpool’s season went from bad to so much worse here, Jurgen Klopp and his players paid a heavy price for picking a fight with the wrong people.
As half-time neared at Anfield, defender Fabinho appeared to kick out needlessly at Burnley’s Ashley Barnes. The Brazilian was booked and as Klopp made his way down the tunnel he became embroiled in a furious row with opposite number Sean Dyche.
Roll forward an hour and with Liverpool pushing for a win they desperately needed, Burnley broke to score the goal that delivered perhaps the shock result of the Premier League season.
Ashley Barnes netted the match-winning penalty to give Burnley a shock win against Liverpool
The Burnley forward won the spot-kick after getting to the ball just before Reds keeper Alisson
And Barnes struck home confidently to give Sean Dyche’s all three points on Thursday night
Liverpool’s unbeaten record at home in the league, stretching back to April 2017, ended
Again Fabinho and Barnes were central to it. As the Burnley player broke into the penalty area, Fabinho looked as though he tried to block him instead of going with him.
Whatever he was trying to do, it failed and when Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson brought Barnes down, the same player recovered to score the penalty.
So Liverpool’s title defence looks to be almost over.
They were top when they scored seven to beat Crystal Palace a month ago but since then they have scored once in five league games and haven’t won any of them.
This was their first league defeat at Anfield since April 2017 and Liverpool now sit fourth. If teams win their games in hand, they won’t even be in the Champions League places.
Next up in the league for Liverpool are games at Tottenham and West Ham.
If Klopp has any sense he will pick a strong team in the FA Cup at Manchester United on Sunday.
Klopp made changes to his team with captain Jordan Henderson absent and Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino on the substitutes’ bench. At the back, central defender Joel Matip returned after injury.
Liverpool have looked like a team in need of freshness recently, so none of this was surprising. More interesting was that it didn’t initially change very much. Liverpool still found it difficult to get out of that rut of predictability in which they have been stuck.
Strange as it seems, Liverpool are a team who have recently become too easy to play against. Too much square passing. Too much that is slow. Too much that carries only a minimal threat.
Burnley played their part. Like just about every team who come to Anfield, they sat deep when out of possession. But they also tried to use the ball when they had it. Dyche selected two centre forwards and they pushed on to the Liverpool back four.
Liverpool did look sporadically dangerous, particularly when they moved the ball across the top of the penalty area to create an extra man on the right-hand side.
At times, they developed nice overlaps but did not always use them. Confidence and decision-making would appear to remain a problem. Indeed it said much that Liverpool’s best chance of the first period came from a Burnley mistake. Only a couple of minutes of the half remained when Ben Mee erred terribly in trying to pass the ball back to his goalkeeper from the halfway line.
Divock Origi ran on to the miscued pass and controlled the ball well for a one-on-one opportunity with goalkeeper Nick Pope. Origi went for power and height with his right foot, but his shot struck the underside of the bar.
Previously the Belgian had forced Pope to work. Origi delivered two shots from the edge of the penalty area — in the 29th and 32nd minutes — but both were saved comfortably enough. The second was powerfully struck but straight at the England man. That was typical of Liverpool’s attacking play. More often than not it felt as though it would take something special from one player to secure the breakthrough.
There were other moments of promise. Xherdan Shaqiri shot wide from 20 yards while full-backs Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold were denied by the goalkeeper and a block from Mee respectively.
At the other end, Alisson had to block a shot from Barnes after dropping a cross. Barnes is always a nuisance for opposition defenders, though why Fabinho kicked out at him just before half-time was a mystery.
Whatever the reason, the Brazilian was booked and managers Klopp and Dyche argued furiously about the incident as they disappeared down the tunnel.
That spirit of aggression carried over into the second half. The game was quicker and Liverpool showed more urgency. All of a sudden, Burnley had to do more to stay afloat.
Alexander-Arnold brought a sharp low save from Pope at his left-hand post and then, after Salah and Firmino were sent on after an hour, the keeper made an even better save.
Gini Wijnaldum created the opportunity with a surging run from the edge of his own penalty area, through the heart of the Burnley midfield to the edge of theirs. When he got there, he could have taken a shot but instead laid the ball off to Salah.
The shot was once again struck low and once again Pope got his left hand to it. Liverpool were getting closer.
What a shock, then, that Burnley won it. Barnes had worked tirelessly and deserved his moment. He took the penalty well and though Burnley had to survive late pressure, Pope was not seriously inconvenienced again.
Re-live all the action here:
