Analysis of Barnsley's 4-1 defeat at Liverpool in the FA Cup fourth round. The hosts went 2-0 up then, after Adam Phillips pulled one back, scored twice more late on.
NO MORE ANFIELD SHOCKS BUT A PERFORMANCE TO BE PROUD OF
BARNSLEY could not add another glorious chapter to their stories of success at Anfield over the decades but strongly suggested they could change the narrative of their league season with more performances like this one.
The Reds were well-organised, disciplined, whole-hearted and competitive throughout Monday’s game, with the final scoreline not representative of a night when the Premier League champions were rattled at times and could only truly feel comfortable in the final minutes.
The roughly 6,000 fans in the away end were vocal throughout and stayed behind to clap off a team who could not have done any more and even left with a ‘what if?’ feeling about a post that was struck in the first minute and a penalty not given at 2-1.
The FA Cup run has been good fun – and very healthy for the club’s revenue with ticket sales for this 60,000 sell-out split evenly plus the money from the third round tie being live on TNT Sports – but now the focus must return to the faltering league campaign.
It is easy, and right, to say that if Barnsley play like they did at Anfield every game until the end of the season they will climb the third tier table and start to challenge for the top six. They have been wildly inconsistent and being plucky underdogs at one of England’s most famous grounds is very different to grinding out points week in, week out in the third tier. But they have to take confidence and belief from this fine performance, while making sure they refocus for arguably a bigger game at home to Blackpool on Saturday.
REDS CLOSER TO BEING A MACCLESFIELD THAN AN EXETER
This was the last match of an exciting FA Cup third round weekend which had seen both extremes of an underdog trying to cause an upset.
Sixth-tier Macclesfield stunned champions Crystal Palace but Barnsley’s fellow League One strugglers Exeter City lost 10-1 at Manchester City.
The Reds were much closer to the upset than the humiliation.
Since 2009, Barnsley have played 15 cup games against Premier League teams and lost them all – scoring seven goals and conceding 56.
The gap is absolutely massive but losing like this is far more palatable than the 7-0 drubbing at Old Trafford last season when it felt like they did not do themselves justice.
Liverpool’s squad had been recruited for about £700million and they had almost 700 international caps for ten different countries including the Netherlands, England, Argentina, Italy, Brazil and Germany.
They started players such as captain Virgil van Dijk and World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister, with no players outside their usual first team squad involved.
Arne Slot’s side, although they look set to relinquish their Premier League title, were unbeaten in ten in all competitions and had drawn 0-0 at leaders Arsenal 72 hours earlier.
They beat Barnsley at Anfield for the first time since 1959 but had to work hard for it, with two late goals changing the look of the scoreline in a way the Reds did not deserve.
EARLY HEADER OFF POST AND PENALTY SHOUT BIG MOMENTS
Barnsley only had a quarter of possession but they had their moments in attack which, if they had gone slightly differently, could have put them much closer to a huge upset.
The sight of Davis Keillor-Dunn – Reds captain due to Luca Connell’s untimely ban and Marc Roberts being on the bench after injury – shaking hands in the centre circle before kick-off with van Dijk, who towered over him, seem to sum up the challenge ahead. But, fewer than 30 seconds had been played when Adam Phillips’ cross went over the Dutch defender and was headed by Keillor-Dunn, who had got the better of England international Joe Gomez, but his effort struck the right post.
That moment set the tone for Barnsley’s performance.
Another big incident happened on the hour-mark.
Liverpool had just made a triple change, bringing on Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike and Ibrahima Konate who had been recruited for a quarter of a billion pounds between them. Wirtz’s £120million fee is more than Barnsley have ever spent on transfers by far.
That meant that Dominik Szoboszlai went to right-back and immediately could have given away a penalty for a foul on Reyes Cleary who had latched onto a fine Keillor-Dunn pass and charged into the box. The Hungarian touched the ball with his toe but also pushed Cleary in the back. Replays suggested it may not have been enough for a penalty but it was certainly in the ‘seen them given’ category and, in real time with no VAR available to overturn, a different referee to Farai Hallam may well have pointed to the spot.
Hourihane and his coaches were apoplectic on the touchline, jumping in fury, before the head coach was booked minutes later for complaining about a different decision.
That was one moment in an impressive game overall for Cleary who, despite coming up against Jeremie Frimpong and not enjoying the speed advantage he has all the time in the third tier, still caused plenty of problems and will only have increased the building interest in him from other clubs.
Keillor-Dunn will also have done his reputation no harm and was mightily unlucky not to score.
PHILLIPS’ EASIEST BUT BIGGEST GOAL
Barnsley’s goal was utterly bizarre and arrived just after his side had gone 2-0 down, late in the first half.
Szoboszlai – who had opened the scoring with a stunning strike – beat Phillips easily to a throughball in the box then inexplicably stood on the ball which ran loose to the Barnsley man to tap in from a few yards out.
It was reminiscent of Ashley Ward’s famous winner in the Premiership in 1997 when Patrik Berger – another long-haired languid Central European midfielder with a penchant for long-range goals – gifted him the ball with a mistake in his box.
Hourihane said Szoboszlai had been disrespectful for attempting to back heel the ball to his goalkeeper and that he would not have tried that against Liverpool’s usual top level opponents.
Phillips now has two goals in his last two games after none in 16 and, out of all his 37 strikes for Barnsley, that may be the most precious – despite the ease of the goal – since he grew up as a Liverpool fan and spent eight years in their academy.
The only Barnsley player to score against a top flight club in the last decade had been Mads Andersen at Leeds in the EFL Cup in 2022.
Alongside Phillips in midfield, Vimal Yoganathan – another former Liverpool youth player who turned 20 the next day – and Jono Bland, also 20, both had strong, lively and disciplined performances on a night when they will have learned a lot and taken confidence.
DEFENSIVE RESOLVE MUST BE TAKEN INTO LEAGUE
Despite conceding four goals, Barnsley defended gallantly which is something to be proud of but also a source of frustration since their performances in the league have been far less solid.
This game was clearly a different situation to any third tier contest as they changed system and had far less of the ball than in League One when it is often them trying to break stubborn defences down – especially at home.
But they played with a diligence and determination which has to be present in every game from now on.
The Reds have conceded 26 cup goals this season, and 33 in the league.
They played a back five, with the personnel changing after Josh Earl suffered a cruel foot injury on Friday which robbed him of the chance to play at the club he supports.
Tennai Watson was on the right of three centre-backs, Mael de Gevigney – who made ten clearances – in the middle and Jack Shepherd, who blocked five shots, on the left.
All of them were far better than in their recent league performances, with Shepherd in particular looking like a leader on the pitch.
Eoghan O’Connell came on for his debut at Anfield and, while it was not as glorious as Luke Steele’s in 2008 or Peter Markstedt’s in 1997, he got valuable minutes in his first appearance in almost five months.
Corey O’Keeffe made his second debut after returning from loan and brought a feistiness to the team in his ultra-aggressive marking and pressing which involved plenty of pushing and shoving.
Nathanael Ogbeta put in a big shift at left-back on his first appearance since November due to injury, then Georgie Gent got some rare minutes off the bench.
Murphy Cooper made a magnificent save at 2-1.
Liverpool started with no natural strikers and their only chances in the first half were the two goals, which were more moments of individual brilliance, then the hosts created a series of good opportunities after the break.
