For the first time since we were there for the Atletico Madrid match, LFC will play football in front of a (nearly) full Anfield.
Thus, this is also the first time a real Anfield crowd (as opposed to the few thousand fans that saw a couple of games last season) will have seen LFC play since they were crowned league champs.
And, it will be the first time that Diogo Jota (who may start, but will almost certainly play), and maybe Thiago (who may make the bench) will play in front of a real crowd at Anfield as LFC players.
Anfield, despite the early kickoff, will be very hyped tomorrow.
Burnley is the team that, last season, broke LFC’s 68-game unbeaten run at Anfield.
Burnley is the football embodiment of Brexit. Their fans are rednecks. Their manager is a redneck. And they play redneck football. They are shithouses. They are physical. They park the bus in every match. They foul. They hope to nick a goal or two on a set play.
In short, Burnley are just the type of team that has often given Klopp’s Liverpool teams a very difficult time. LFC have dropped points to Burnley at Anfield in three of their last four visits.
Tomorrow, Burnley visits on the heels of a loss to Brighton. After Burnley opened the scoring two minutes into the match, Brighton came back to win 2-1.
I thought last week’s visit to Norwich was a nice test of our transition defense, because Norwich, despite being a promoted side, are very good at getting behind defenses. Tomorrow will be a good test in a more traditional sense. Will LFC be able to create good scoring opportunities against one of the most-accomplished bus parking sides in the Premier League? Or, will they be left launching an excess of Coutinhoesque strikes from distance, as the frustration among fans and players builds throughout the 90 minutes?
I am optimistic.
As discussed last week, our refreshed back line provides an overall balance to our team that was missing for almost all of last season. In addition, the team has far more physical and emotional energy than it had at ANY point during last year’s Grind. Given those two facts, I think LFC should fall quickly back into the punishing rhythm that it had for all of the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons. So you’re parking the bus? No problem. We will relentlessly pass the ball. We will run your defenders all over the pitch. We will create openings where none appear to exist. On the rare occasions when you manage to get the ball, we will press you with an intensity that you cannot handle, and we will take our ball back from you, and often we will create a good scoring chance directly from your turnover. And if you still somehow manage to keep us scoreless for 90 minutes, we will not let up. Our intensity levels will go up yet one more notch (“this one goes to 11”). After all of that, maybe you can get away from Anfield with a clean sheet. If so, kudos to you. But my money is on the Reds.
There is one slice of bad news for LFC, both off and on the pitch. Fabinho’s father died yesterday. I assume he’s traveling to Brazil for the funeral. My guess is that he will miss not only tomorrow’s match, but also Chelsea next week, which comes right before the international break. I believe the Brazilian guys will need to quarantine for a few days when they return from the international break, so it would make little sense for Fabinho to go back-and-forth to Brazil twice during this two-week period. He should go for the funeral, stay for the international team, and come back after the break.
Klopp said today that Henderson and Thiago may be available to play tomorrow. My guess is that neither one will start. But, with Fabinho’s absence, there’s at least some chance that Hendo will start. Having said that, I’ll guess that we go with the same starting lineup we used last week, except that I’ll guess that Firmino starts ahead of Jota this time. I’ll also guess that Hendo and Jota both play off the bench. Possibly Thiago as well, depending on what’s happening in the match and how the last fitness checks for he and Hendo go.
So, my guess at a lineup:
There was also good news for LFC today: Robertson returned to full team training. Tomorrow will come too soon for him to be in the squad (I think), but apparently the team is optimistic that he can start against Chelsea next weekend.
I think that with the crowd pushing, LFC will start fast tomorrow and never look back. Let’s start the season with back-to-back 3-nil wins.
LFC 3 – Burnley 0
