At kick-off on Saturday afternoon, Liverpool and Burnley lined up as equals according to the Barclays Premier League table. Within a couple of hours, any ideas that such an unlikely equality could last had been ruthlessly dismissed.
Liverpool scored four times but, such was their dominance as the game wore on, could have underlined their superiority with several more goals. At the other end of the pitch, Pepe Reina was unemployed to such an extent that he had ample time to contemplate a pre-match interview given in his native tongue and translated into English in which he apparently questioned Liverpool’s ability to win the title. On the evidence of this game, any such notions appear misguided. The only problem is, Burnley provided anything but an acid test.
The victories that Owen Coyle’s side enjoyed over Manchester United and Everton counted for nothing at Anfield, apart from prompting many in the home crowd to question how such results had been possible, as Yossi Benayoun’s first Premier League hat-trick and a tap-in for Dirk Kuyt ensured that Liverpool would not become another notable notch on the Scottish manager’s bedpost.
If Coyle is to take any positives from such a one-sided affair, it will be that his team are a different proposition at Turf Moor, where both of their wins have been recorded. If safety is to be secured, it will be done in the manner of Stoke City last season, by making the most of home advantage.
Acutely aware of their vulnerability, survival remains Burnley’s goal and Tyrone Mears, the right back, recognised that it is against the Premier League’s lesser lights that their fate will be determined. “People might have thought we would have been sitting at the bottom of the table with no points,” Mears said. “But we have six and hopefully we’ll be picking more up, particularly from the teams around us. That will keep us up. I don’t think we should be judged on games against the likes of Liverpool.”
For altogether different reasons, Liverpool face a similar challenge, for it was a string of poor home results against teams from whom they should have taken maximum points that cost them the title last season.
The penny finally appears to be dropping, though, with Stoke and Burnley on the receiving end of four-goal hidings. “We know it is important to win these games, and it is important to be on top of these teams from the beginning, then if you get the first goal it becomes easier for the players with quality,” Rafael Benítez, the Liverpool manager, said.
For 27 minutes, Burnley were in the game and their resolution made life difficult for Liverpool, who, up to that point, had laboured in the face of qualities that ensured the visiting team were high on perspiration if a little lacking in inspiration.
Then Benayoun provided a wonderfully incisive finishing flourish and what had been a contest increasingly turned into a procession. Liverpool made the most of the resultant space afforded them and by the time this caricatured meeting of football’s have and have nots was reaching its closing stages, Steven Gerrard, Benayoun et al were playing give and goes on the edge of the Burnley penalty area with minimal fear of interruption.
“The first goal killed us and we lost our shape,” Mears said. “We passed the ball quite well but if you give Liverpool chances, they take them.”
He could have added that a goal was all that it took for the gulf in class between the hosts and visiting team to be exposed, but it had already been demonstrated where it matters most, on the pitch.
