Analysis: Burnley

Burnley set up in a 4-4-2 formation that became a 2-4-4 in possession, when wide midfielders Johann Berg Gudmundsson and Robbie Brady joined Ashley Barnes and Chris Wood on the top line. Central midfielders Ashley Westwood and Jack Cork would stay deeper, while full-backs Phil Bardsley and Charlie Taylor would push higher.

The hosts displayed three main points of attack, the first and most common of which was through direct play. The ball would be sent to Barnes or Wood, who would contest the aerial challenge – the remaining Burnley players would try to pick up the second ball and continue the attack in a more advanced area.

The second threat was set-pieces. Due to their direct play, Burnley were able to win several free-kicks from fouls committed in aerial challenges – this provided them with additional opportunities to deliver the ball into the box. It was through set-pieces that Burnley had a first-half goal disallowed, eventually scored and then almost equalised before Liverpool countered for the killer third goal.

The final method of attack was through moving the ball into wide areas for crosses. This was less common, as they had so little time on the ball across the 90 minutes – but when this was the approach, it would always be with Barnes and Wood as the intended targets in the box.

Out of possession, Burnley used a 4-4-2 structure and operated in a mid-block. When the ball was central, the role of the forwards was to position themselves either side of single pivot Jordan Henderson, with goalkeeper Alisson or with the centre-backs, encouraging the play to go wide.

As the ball went into the full-backs, the nearest striker would look to screen the ball into Henderson’s feet (or those of Naby Keita, if he happened to be the deep-lying midfielder at that point), while the wide midfielder on that side would push up to close down his man. The near-side central midfielder would also shuffle across to prevent the Liverpool full-back from playing through the midfield block and into the feet of a forward.

The Burnley players would look to close the Liverpool players down when they were on the ball, but only with the intention of preventing forward play by blocking off passing lines – rarely was the intention to tackle. The exceptions would be if the Liverpool player receiving was facing his own goal, or if the player closing down was right on his opponent’s toes while he still had possession.

When Liverpool moved the ball wide, Burnley would look to defend with their full-back and wide midfielder showing down the line to prevent the opponent from cutting inside or turning back. The movement to close down the full-backs would sometimes initiate a higher press – this created a couple of counter-attacking opportunities from high areas.