This defeat will not shape our destiny

Last updated : 13 September 2009 By Andy Dean
Brian Jensen
Brian Jensen - his saves restricted Liverpool to four goals
While the fans of Real Madrid, Olympiakos and Arsenal may tell tales of intimidating nights at a vociferous Anfield, no Burnley fan who was there yesterday will tell of anything other than a funereal atmosphere.

Only five times did the home fans make themselves heard, once in the singing of You'll Never Walk Alone before the game and then after each goal. Quite simply they were out-sung by a passionate Clarets following.

In front of a subdued 40,000 Liverpool fans a hat-trick from Yossi Benayoun and a goal from Dirk Kuyt were enough for Rafa Benitez's men to condemn Burnley to a third away defeat of the season, on a day when the Clarets never looked like taking anything from the game.

Owen Coyle's men started well, and in all honesty they were the only team in the game for the first 120 seconds. Martin Paterson fired just wide with the game less than a minute old but that was about as good as it got all afternoon for the hard-working but toothless visitors.

Benayoun's first goal came just before the half hour but he could and probably should have opened the scoring minutes earlier.

Emiliano Insua found space down the Liverpool left and floated a ball into the Burnley box, which Benayoun met with a perfectly timed jump but his firm header flew just wide.

It didn't take the Israel midfielder long to find the target though.

Glen Johnson's neat pass allowed Benayoun to run at Graham Alexander on the edge of the penalty area, and once he had touched the ball through the veteran's legs he was able to pass the ball into Brian Jensen's bottom right corner before a lunging Clarke Carlisle could intervene.

Jensen then made a fine double save to keep out Benayoun's stooping header and Dirk Kuyt's close range follow up but the Claret's were being constantly over-run.

The home side were now in a good rhythm, swarming forward in numbers at every opportunity. They seemed to have one, if not two, extra men every time they attacked whilst never looking light in defence.

The midfield trio of Wade Elliott, Chris McCann and Graham Alexander have performed admirably over the last 12 months in getting us to where we are today, but yesterday it looked as if they felt they didn't belong.

Too often they passed the ball on as soon as they received it, nobody in the white shirt seemed to want possession for any length of time. They need to keep telling themselves that they deserve to be playing in these games, and that they are Premier League players with enough quality to make an impact at this level.

Liverpool's second goal came from a rare Burnley attack. Pepe Reina punched Robbie Blake's corner away from danger and Fernando Torres led a counter attack that ended with Dirk Kuyt tapping in after Brian Jensen could only parry Benayoun's 20 yard effort straight into the Dutchman's path.

It was the first major slip of the season for Jensen and to criticise him for it would be unwarranted.

If his mistake put us two behind then it was Jensen's brilliance that stopped it from becoming three nil. Steven Gerrard's curling effort from just outside the box seemed destined to find the top corner and kill the game off, but a big hand from a flying Beast was enough to tip the ball round the corner and prevent the visitors falling further behind.

As disappointed as the majority of the Burnley fans will have been during that half time interval it's worth remembering where this club has come from.

One year ago this weekend we led 1-0 away to Nottingham Forest, we were without a league win and had scored just one goal in our previous four outings. Fast-forward 12 months and we were sitting 10th in the Premier League losing to one of British football's most successful club's - I know where I'd rather be with all due respect to Forest and the Football League.

If we wanted to get anything at all from the game we needed to start the second half well, sadly that didn't happen.

Fernando Torres was denied a goal by some wonderful defending by the ever-impressive Tyrone Mears, easily Burnley's man of the match, but it was only fifteen minutes into the second half that the hosts made sure of all three points.

Steven Gerrard burst through the Clarets' defence before squaring across Jensen to Benayoun, who could not miss from a matter of yards.

It was now a question of how many they would get.

Benayoun thought he had his hat-trick when he tapped in after Jensen fumbled Gerrard's powerful free-kick, only for the linesman to incorrectly raise his flag for offside.

The Israeli, Burnley's tormentor in chief all afternoon, didn't have to wait long to ensure he was taking the match ball home though. His third and Liverpool's fourth arrived ten minutes from time when Andriy Voronin's through ball found the former West Ham midfielder in acres of space inside the box to fire past a helpless Jensen.

It looked originally as though he must have been offside but Stephen Jordan, who endured the toughest game of his season thus far, will not enjoy seeing the replay as he clearly plays the Liverpool number 15 onside by at least a yard.

It could have been six by the end, Gerrard was denied a goal by a fantastic save by Jensen's right boot and Voronin should have scored when through one-on-one but Benitez's men had to settle for four.

Barring two long range efforts from Martin Paterson, Pepe Reina had nothing to do yesterday and his kit was so clean come the final whistle it's conceivable he could wear it for the next game it was still in such immaculate condition.

These games don't define the season of a newly-promoted club. Yes we would all loved to have gone to Anfield and come home with a point, but their starting line-up included ten full internationals while our XI included seven that started in the game at the City Ground twelve months earlier.

In a short space of time this club has come a hell of a long way and our destiny beyond May 2010 will not be shaped by resounding defeats at places like Anfield.