Liverpool would have preferred a more straightforward afternoon but their 1-0 win at Burnley may prove the ideal warmup for Wednesday’s clash with Atletico Madrid.
Burnley 0-1 Liverpool
Premier League (4) | Turf Moor
September 14, 2025
Goal: Salah pen 90+5′
1. Imagine being an Arsenal fan
Rational analysis of what unfolded at Turf Moor can wait a second – just take a moment instead to imagine you were a supporter of a team hoping to rival Liverpool for the Premier League this season watching that game.
Finally, it looked like the luck would run out, and those flaws evident across the opening three fixtures were at last going to be exposed.
And surely, you’d think, it wouldn’t be long until those issues were consistently resulting in dropped points, allowing another team to charge into top spot.
But somehow, Liverpool pulled off their familiar trick yet again, finding a late winner in fortuitous circumstances once again to send remote controls hurling at televisions all across the country.
Ultimately, hate-watching Liverpool is just not a worthwhile pastime these days.
2. Reds’ attack isn’t quite right
That it came to Liverpool needing a late, late winner owed much to the fact that they once again showed a weakness that was perhaps going under the radar across the three games.
The Reds may have gone into the first international break as the league’s top scorers with eight goals, but they had managed that from just 3.4xG – an unsustainable return.
And as much could be seen here in their failure to break down Burnley‘s low block, with just three shots on target having been taken before Mohamed Salah‘s penalty.
It is clear that the changes made up top this summer mean it is going to take a while for things to truly click in the final third.
Arne Slot can only hope that happens quickly, and that his team continue to pick up three points regardless in the meantime.
3. Kerkez sub no real shock
Slot proved in his first competitive game as Liverpool manager that he wasn’t afraid to make tough decisions, hauling Jarell Quansah off at half-time at Ipswich.
But it still felt like a surprise to see the Dutchman be quite so ruthless with Milos Kerkez here, not even waiting until the break to replace him with Andy Robertson.
That said, there can be no doubting it was the right call given the Hungarian had picked up a needless booking with a dive and looked primed for another as part of a rash display.
Of course, that is disappointing, but it really should not be forgotten that despite Kerkez’s strong start to life at Liverpool, he is still only 21 years old.
As such, there may be further occasions this season where he is pulled out of the firing line and Robertson’s experience is preferred.
4. Konate and Van Dijk colossal
Liverpool would not have been in the position to mount a late smash-and-grab had it not been for the fact that they had so relentlessly penned Burnley in throughout the 90 minutes.
And key to that were the performances of centre-half pairing Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk, who put on a colossal performance up against a physical, direct team in windy conditions.
Konate won more duels (14) than any other player on the pitch, while Van Dijk wasn’t too far behind with 10.
That provided a platform for the Reds to not give Burnley a sniff and claim the clean sheet that set them up to win it.
5. Great preparation for Atletico
Of course Liverpool will now turn their attentions to the Champions League and a midweek meeting with Atletico Madrid at Anfield.
But Slot could arguably not have asked for better preparation for that game than coming up against the determined low block Burnley offered here.
Atletico are masters of those tactics and will look to frustrate Liverpool in a similar way, and it is hard to imagine them sneaking a win should they get just four of 27 shots on target again.
Still, if they are looking for an answer to that problem, then having Alexander Isak on the bench would be no bad thing.
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