A packed Anfield propelled Liverpool towards a comfortable 2-0 win against Burnley, but Reds boss Jurgen Klopp was not happy with what he claimed were 'dangerous' tactics employed by Sean Dyche's side.
Liverpool made it two wins from two at the start of their Premier League campaign as goals from Diogo Jota and Sadio Mane earned them a 2-0 victory over Burnley at Anfield.
Jota, scorer of the first goal in the 3-0 win at Norwich last weekend, gave Jurgen Klopp’s men the lead with an 18th-minute header.
Mane then opened his account for 2021-22 in the 69th minute, sending a firm finish past Nick Pope.
Burnley – who had won 1-0 on their last visit to the ground in January to end Liverpool’s 68-game unbeaten home run in the league – caused the hosts some problems but could not prevent another defeat, a week on from losing their opener 2-1 at home to Brighton.
Yet amid the euphoric atmosphere at Anfield as fans returned to the stadium for the first time since March 2020, Klopp was not happy with some of the tackles served up by a passionate Burnley side.
Klopp told BT Sport after the match: “Burnley was never a game where you are just flying or whatever and can outplay them, or at least not for us.
“We always had to be ready for a proper fight. We were today in a really difficult game, because you saw these challenges with (Ashley) Barnes and (Chris) Wood and Virgil (Van Dijk) and Joel (Matip).
“I’m not 100 per cent sure if we are really going in the right direction with these kind of decisions. It feels like we go back 10, 15 years back to when we said ‘oh, that was the football we wanted to see’. It’s just too dangerous.
“You cannot really touch the situations. It’s just hard. The rules are what they are, but the thing is you can’t defend these situations."
After the game, Klopp further expanded on the point.
"We always had to be ready for a proper fight and we were today," he stated.
"You saw these challenges with (Ashley) Barnes and (Chris) Wood on Virgil (van Dijk) and Joel (Gomez). I’m not 100 per cent sure if [officials] are going in the right direction with these decisions. It’s like we’re going 10 to 15 years backwards. The rules are like they are, but you cannot defend these situations. That’s how it makes the game really tricky.
"I don’t think it’s right, but I cannot decide these things. I heard about leaving the game flow, but now we have these situations. The second goal from Brentford (against Arsenal on the opening day) must be a foul – you cannot clip the arm of the goalkeeper and say, ‘that’s football’. I think maybe we have to think about it a second or a third time.
"The message now is let the game flow, but nobody exactly knows what that means. I like decisions that favour the offensive team, that’s fine. But we have to stick to protecting the players. We cannot deny that. If you like that sort of thing, watch wrestling.
"I am not the Pope of football or whatever or any kind of priest who wants to tell the people what to do, really not.
"You might remember it when we started to talk about the elbow in the challenge, all of a sudden all challenges in the air, we heard the whistle. It happened then that players started feeling something in the face even when nothing touched them because it helped always to do this… now there is a message, like a headline, ‘let the game flow’.
"It started with the penalties, ‘no soft penalties anymore’, which is absolutely fine, but we cannot forget that we have to protect the players as well and the challenges in the air.
"We are early in the season and I don’t want to open already the box of Pandora, I just think we have to speak about these kinds of things because the intensity of the season didn’t even start.
"In a lot of moments, we played a brilliant game without scoring. In all the other moments we had to fight incredibly hard. We won it and nobody got injured."
Klopp also gave an update on the club's contract negotiations with Mohamed Salah, as Liverpool look to tie the Egyptian down to a new deal that will see him stay at the club until 2025.
"Firstly, Mo is obviously in a really, really good moment, form-wise, mood-wise, how he behaved from the first day he came back, absolutely great," added Klopp.
"We are all adults, we are all professionals. If there are talks there are talks, and if there's a decision then we will tell you.
"Until then it’s only important how the parties work together - and that’s not about Mo, it’s in general.
"We don’t have to talk about anything else, and the decisive people can talk in the background, but yes, with two years left, you can imagine that there are talks. That is it."
