Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp said he would have to be “a real idiot” to rush into the transfer market purely on the basis of Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to Burnley.
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The BBC’s Garth Crooks went even further, claiming Liverpool would be relegated with the 24-year-old in the side, but Klopp brushed it all aside. With just two minutes on the clock, Sam Vokes broke the deadlock with a well-taken finish before strike partner Andre Gray doubled Burnley’s lead 37 minutes in.
Burnley’s Heaton had to be at his best shortly after the break, as he pulled off two saves deny Coutinho and Firmino in quick succession. While left-back Alberto Moreno had a challenging afternoon, new centre-back Ragnar Klavan had a solid debut for his new club. “It was a fantastic win for them last week against Arsenal, not many teams score four there and while they have things to improve on it’s a great start”.
“We know we lost a game in which we had 80 per cent possession today but there are different ways to play football”. “If we would have found the flawless fit then we would have made the transfer”, he added, clearly getting annoyed. I told you a lot times that I can not be interested in the criticisms from other people. It doesn’t mean you should concede goals in these situations. “I’ve said a number of times that I don’t have any interest in criticizing players”, stressed the German manager, unwilling to lay the blame on just one player.
“Our timing and decision-making was not very good”. We should be ready in our development and these mistakes shouldn’t happen anymore, but our training drills did not include us playing the ball at the wrong time to the opponent.
The home fans were buoyant, revelling in the occasion as their side took part in a top-flight game while local rivals Blackburn and Accrington hosted Burton and Exeter respectively in the leagues below.
“We have a lot of players who can play in our style of play at left full-back”.
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For the first 30 minutes of the second half, the Reds dominated possession at close to 85% but remained unable to captitalise on any of their chances. “We have to accept the result and carry on”.
