20th Aug: It's not all about possession Klopp

[ClaretTony]

Arsenal featured a couple of times yesterday with opening fixtures and they do again today as we feature 20th August. In fact the first three games we look at are all against the two North London teams.

Back in 1949, we kicked off the season with Arsenal visiting the Turf. They went home with nothing on that occasion. Billy Morris scored an early goal to give us a 1-0 win. It was the same score six years later when the season kicked off at White Hart Lane, this time a Brian Pilkington goal giving us the points.

What an opening game in 1960 as we strode onto the Turf Moor pitch for the first time in a league game since that memorable night at Maine Road over three months earlier. Again Arsenal were our visitors and again they went home with nothing. Len Wills opened the scoring in the 13th minute, just as Morris had done for us in 1949, but it was an own goal and Burnley led 1-0.

Just before half time, Wills scored in the other end and it was all square at the interval. Worse followed; Arsenal were in front through Jimmy Bloomfield early in the second half but goals from Ray Pointer and John Connelly in the final 13 minutes ensured we kicked off the season with both points from this 3-2 win.

It was Gordon Harris's day in 1966 when Sheffield United visited the Turf for the first game of the season. We hammered them 4-0 and Harris, known as Bomber, scored three of them. All of the goals came in the second half with Willie Irvine scoring our second. Harris completed his hat trick with a late penalty.

All of those games were first games of the season but Southampton's visit to Burnley in 1968 was our fourth game. We'd beaten Newcastle three days later and made it two home wins in three days. We won 3-1; Frank Casper scored two in two minutes midway through the first half with Arthur Bellamy adding the third in the second half. Southampton's goal was a late consolation.

Nothing but wins so far but that comes to an end now. In 1977 Bolton kicked off the new season at the Turf and beat us 1-0 while our first ever away trip in the third division ended in a 3-1 defeat with Steve Taylor scoring our goal.

Having won promotion, we'd kicked off the 1994/95 season with a defeat at Middlesbrough but we came close to winning the first home game against Stoke. Steve Davis scored our first league goal of the season just before half time but Stoke scored a stoppage time equaliser to deny us.

It was a controversial game at Watford in 2005 when the home side opted to keep playing while our goalkeeper Brian Jensen led injured on the ground. Not only that, they scored the third and decisive goal in their 3-1 win as they continued, much to the displeasure of the Burnley players and fans.

What a team we had out that day against a Watford side who included Clarke Carlisle. Micah Hyde had to play at right back, Karl Bermingham started his one and only game, Kyle Lafferty had to come on as a substitute for Frank Sinclair during the first half and we had both John McGreal and Wayne Thomas on the bench but not fit enough to come on. Garreth O'Connor scored our goal from the penalty spot and until that late goal against no goalkeeper we looked as though we could snatch a point.

Having drawn the first home game of the 2011/12 season against Sean Dyche's Watford, it was another draw in the second with Cardiff taking home a point from a 1-1 draw. It didn't take us long to go in front with Charlie Austin scoring in just the second minute. Cardiff, who included former loan player Peter Whittingham and had Tom Heaton on the bench, levelled it a few minutes before half time with a Robert Earnshaw goal.

Before looking at the one remaining home game, so the best can be saved till last, there are three League Cup games to be looked at, all of them first round first legs. Martin Dobson brought his Bury team to Turf Moor in 1985. Just to show how things have changed in the years since, Bury were then a division higher than us.

Dobbo, besides himself, had former Clarets Lee Dixon, Terry Pashley, Joe Jakub and Kevin Young to select from as well as future Claret Winston White. Burnley won the first leg 2-1 with goals from Alan Taylor, who himself would join Bury a year later, and Wayne Biggins.

No such good fortune in 1991 when we returned from Wigan with a 3-1 defeat; Mike Conroy scoring our goal although in 1996 we travelled to Mansfield for a second successive season. This time it was a comfortable 3-0 win with goals from Andy Cooke, Kurt Nogan and Ooooh David Eyres.

Now the best, four years ago. We'd lost our opening day game of the season against Swansea and should have been travelling to Anfield to take on Liverpool at the start of Jürgen Klopp's first full season as manager. We had just been promoted for a third time to the Premier League.

There had been big news during the week; David Jones had gone to Sheffield Wednesday and he was replaced in the team by new signing Steven Defour who had arrived from Anderlecht. I think it is fair to say he had a favourable debut.

All the talk after the game was about Liverpool's possession, about Liverpool's attempts at goals and all these modern statistics they throw at you. I was only interested in two statistics, the number of goals scored and the number of points won. We got two goals, they didn't get any so we got three points and they got none.

We were in front in less than two minutes. Liverpool tried to play out from the back, we pressed them with Andre Gray picking up a loose ball from Nathaniel Clyne. Gray found Sam Vokes who turned away from Dejan Lovren on the edge of the box before hitting home a superb effort past Simon Mignolet.

Eight minutes from half time and the goalscoring was complete. Stephen Ward did brilliantly to win back the ball and he in turn found Defour. The Belgian, who the Burnley fans had already taken to, was deep in his own half. He moved forward with the ball, had one bit of good fortune before getting the ball to Gray who turned inside two defenders before sliding the ball home into the bottom corner.

Klopp sulked, Philip Coutinho kept firing shots way off target from thirty yards plus, presumably to get their shot count up, and finally, of the most importance, brilliant Burnley deserved the win.

[Fretters]

That Vokes goal is one of my favourite ever goals as it was so unlike him, he wasn't usually one for scoring from outside the box and to do it against Liverpool was pretty special.

Our first goals following promotion to the PL were all screamers at the Cricket Field end against elite clubs (Blake v Man United, Arfield v Chelsea and Vokes v Liverpool).

[ClaretTony]

That Vokes goal is one of my favourite ever goals as it was so unlike him, he wasn't usually one for scoring from outside the box and to do it against Liverpool was pretty special.

Our first goals following promotion to the PL were all screamers at the Cricket Field end against elite clubs (Blake v Man United, Arfield v Chelsea and Vokes v Liverpool).

You're right, not a Vokes like goal at all but one of his best for us. I hadn't thought of that but yes, all three good goals and all at the cricket field end.