Wijnaldum: Liverpool Need To Treat Burnley Like Arsenal

The Burnley game is weighing on all our minds. With almost everyone talking about Liverpool’s inconsistent performances, the team is feeling the pressure too. Georginio Wijnaldum (which is genuinely more pleasing to type than “Gini”) thinks the problem arises from Liverpool being too ‘passive’ during games.

“If you look at the difference in the games between the bigger and smaller teams, the difference in concentration and being passive is big,” Wijnaldum said about Liverpool’s recent performance.

“Of course you can never guarantee you will win but you have more chance if you play against the small teams like you play the big ones. It is never guaranteed the next game will be an easy game. You have to work hard, give 100% and fight for the points.

“We must have the same concentration we have now against the bigger teams otherwise it will be difficult. We would make it easier if we also did it against the smaller teams.”

Liverpool lost their last game against Burnley 2-0, with Sam Vokes and Andre Gray scoring Burnley’s goals. While most of the players seem to place blame on a lack of concentration or a different mindset when playing against smaller teams, you would think that the consistency of this trend over the past few months would prompt some serious soul-searching on what to do about it.

We’ve been hearing about how Liverpool have to approach smaller games with more determination for weeks now. If the message isn’t starting to have an effect, maybe it’s time for a different approach.