BURNLEY 0-4 LIVERPOOL MATCH REPORT

                                         MATCH REPORT

Still with hopes of finishing fourth place Liverpool had to win, always going to be a difficult game with Burnley fighting for their Premiership survival.  The long hard week playing three games in seven days and with the travel disruption last week made this a harder week than most.

                                        THE TEAM

Quite surprised by the team selection,  yet at the same time there has been a lot of injury problems recently and Rafa was obviously looking towards the massive game on Thursday.  I was pleased to see Aqualani and Ayala playing as they have not had much game time this season.

                                        Gerrard celebrates his opener
                                          THE GAME

From the start you could see Burnley were going to play this game like a cup final and put Liverpool under as much pressure as possible.  Liverpool struggled to make any headway early on.  Fletcher up front causing problems with his work rate to the Liverpool defence.  Liverpool's best chance in the first half came when Gerrard swivelled and hit a shot just from inside the box but Jensen made a comfortable save.  Fletcher hit the Liverpool post with a shot that looked like a handball when he controlled it.  Burnley had a penalty claim when Johnson controlled an awkward ball with his thigh then his chest but it although it didn't hit his arm it did look like it. 

                                          Maxi scores his first Liverpool goal

The second half was much of the same,  but Liverpool had a blow when Liverpool lost Kuyt to injury at the start of the second half,  and must now be a doubt for Thursday,  Benayoun replaced him.  Liverpool changed the game in the space of seven minutes,  the first when Gerrard hit a shot from outside the box which took a wicked deflection into the corner of the Burnley net leaving Jensen stranded.  The second goal was a Gerrard special when Aqualani slipped just outside the box Gerrard just took the opportunity to hit a rasping right foot curler into the corner of the net leaving Jensen with no chance.  After this the game was over as a contest and Liiverpool cruised to victory scoring another two goals in the process.  The third came when Aqualani sent Maxi clear into the right hand edge of the box and he made no mistake with a clinical finish scoring his first goal as a Liverpool player,  finally at the end of the game Babel scored a fourth when he beat the offside trap and put it away as Jensen seemed a little unlucky trying to stop it.  The final nail in the coffin sending poor Burnley down.

                                        SUMMARY

I thought Liverpool coped well with the early pressure on the makeshift defence,  special praise for the young Ayala who was given a test against the hard working and strong Fletcher but Ithought he stood up to the challenge well and looked strong and comfortable in possession.  Gerrard was more like himself creating a lot and scoring again very pleasing. Great to see Maxi scoring and Babel will be great for confidence.  On the down side a few injury worries with Kuyt and Agger picking up knocks lets hope they are not serious.
                                       MAN OF THE MATCH

Grerrard -  superb, more like himself really influenced the game and adding in with a couple of goals which we have missed from him this season,  real captain's performance

YNWA