Premier League prediction: Liverpool’s woeful at the back but should still dominate Burnley

LONDON - Liverpool get the pulses racing every time they surge over the halfway line, but their attacking talent is wasted. For until the Reds address their shortcomings at the back, major silverware will continue to elude them.

Brendan Rodgers never got to grips with a dodgy defence, and Jurgen Klopp, despite his many positive charms, hasn’t come close to solving the issue either.

Individuals make way too many glaring errors, and they have done so for years.

Quite what the German sees in Alberto Moreno remains a mystery.

It’s a horrific blind spot as the Spaniard does not, and will never, have a defensive nose.

At moments when everyone in the stadium can smell danger from the opposition, he habitually switches off.

Moreno’s surprise renaissance is an odd one to explain too. The left-back was deemed so much of a liability last term that James Milner played instead of him in a position he’d never experienced. He was nowhere near the first XI.

Yet out of nowhere he’s now flavour of the month, with the reliable Milner and promising new signing Andrew Robertson left twiddling their thumbs on the bench most weeks.

No one really gets it.

In the middle of the rearguard, there’s also quite a competition between Ragnar Klavan and Dejan Lovren for the role of chief cock-up merchant too.

Klavan isn’t good enough to play for a club like Liverpool, and ex-Saints star Lovren is so often an accident waiting to happen.

The absence of an alternative to Virgil Van Dijk was one of the transfer window’s strangest turns, and I suspect the Reds will live to regret their failure to lure at least a couple of quality defensive upgrades to Merseyside.

It feels pretty negligent not to reinforce such an obvious frailty.

I mean, what’s the point in having a Champions League forward line, when the rearguard is Championship standard?

Klopp’s wildly unpredictable rotation doesn’t help matters.

The Liverpool head coach has made 10 changes to his back five (including goalkeeper) in just four Premier League matches.

By way of comparison, no other top-flight boss has made in excess of five switches in that department. Most have tinkered significantly less.

Partnerships can’t be properly built if the personnel is always chopped and changed.

Are they vulnerable to a Burnley upset?

Clarets new boy Chris Wood is in fantastic form, and has the tools to cause damage with runs in behind or from crosses whipped into the box (as will Sam Vokes), but the chances are Liverpool will spend most of this contest inside the opposition’s final third.

In two home matches at Anfield in the league, the Reds have suffered next to no alarm bells, so it will take a bold effort from Burnley to buck that trend.

With Sadio Mane suspended, I also expect Philippe Coutinho to return, and don’t be surprised if he is the match winner.

There’s a reason Barcelona wanted the Brazilian. The want away midfielder is still Liverpool’s most talented creator.

Prediction: Liverpool 3 Burnley 1

Liverpool v Burnley (Saturday, 10pm, Singtel Ch102 and StarHub Ch227)

About the author: Adrian Clarke is a former Arsenal midfielder who has played at every level of the English game. Now an experienced sports journalist, he writes for TODAY as well as several top football websites. Follow him on Twitter @adrianjclarke