Burnley Dump Liverpool Out of the FA Cup
By The Longside
February 11 2005
Press reports of our fantastic victory against Liverpool last night. We have numerous reports and a link to see THAT goal again.
Reuters - Burnley Dump Liverpool Out of the FA Cup
A bizarre own goal by defender Djimi Traore has gifted second division Burnley a 1-0 win over 10-man Liverpool in an FA Cup third round upset.
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez bore some of the blame for the Premier League club's exit by fielding a second string team but the rest was down to Traore after his over-elaborate attempt to clear ended up in his own net in the 51st minute.
Liverpool's misery on Tuesday was compounded in the closing minutes at Turf Moor when their Spanish midfielder Antonio Nunez was red-carded for elbowing Burnley midfielder Tony Grant.
Burnley's reward is a home tie on January 29 with third division Bournemouth, while Leicester City are at fellow second division club Reading after they beat Blackpool 1-0 in a replay.
Benitez, whose second-string sides have reached the League Cup semi-finals, was unrepentant.
Asked if it had been a mistake not to field more experienced players, the Spaniard told Sky Sports News: "I don't think so. (I'm happy) with the players, they tried. We worked hard.
"We used the squad in the Carling Cup with the same idea and we won. Not today. All of us are disappointed with the result, but that's football."
As for Traore's antics, Benitez said: "It's a mistake. In the six-yard box, you need to clear the ball."
Burnley's delighted manager Steve Cotterill said: "It's an absolutely fantastic win...I thought we were better in the first half, they were better in the second.
"But in the end, we got what perhaps what we deserved on the night...we were a team tonight. We had good individuals, but they certainly played as one of 11."
TRAORE GOAL
Calamity struck for Liverpool when Burnley's Richard Chaplow crossed from the left and the French-born Traore tried to flick the ball from one foot to the other. Instead he sent it into his net from close range.
It was a memorable win for Burnley, who had plenty of fight but clearly missed the firepower of striker Robbie Blake, who was sold to Premier League Birmingham City earlier this month.
Chaplow should have made it 2-0 midway through the second half but failed to make the most of a free shot inside the area.
Benitez sent on strikers Milan Baros and Neil Mellor in a bid to level the tie, which had been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch, but Burnley held on to reach the fourth round.
Burnley 1 Liverpool 0
The Sun
LIVERPOOL became the biggest casualty of the FA Cup at Turf Moor last night.
Rafael Benitez's men were dumped out by Burnley after a comical Djimi Traore own goal settled the tie.
But the result was in no way a fluke for the Championship side as they outplayed a weakened Liverpool team all over the park.
Benitez, though, defended his decision to rest big guns such as Steven Gerrard, Dietmar Hamann, John Arne Riise and Milan Baros.
He said: "The players tried but the problem we have is four competitions.
"You cannot play all the players in four competitions. We play the same way in the Carling Cup and we are still in that.
"It was no mistake to play a weakened team. We are disappointed but it's football."
He added: "I think that we had a good second half and the end of the first half and we played well.
"But a big mistake with the own goal and it becomes difficult to play. A draw would have been the best option but now we concentrate on the next competition."
The Reds' frustration was evident as they pressed in vain for an equaliser. Substitutes Neil Mellor and Baros were booked within minutes of their arrival.
And it all became too much for Rafa recruit Antonio Nunez, who saw red late on for elbowing Tony Grant.
Clarets boss Steve Cotterill reckoned this win was one of the best of his managerial career.
He said: "The team ethic was the difference for us. We talk about being a team - we had good individuals but we played as 11.
"They brought the big guns on as they panicked but we panicked as well and it did no good for my ticker or my voice. It's probably my best night."
Burnley now take on Bournemouth in the fourth round and they will fancy their chances of progressing on a patched up Turf Moor pitch.
This game was rearranged after the ground was waterlogged two weeks ago.
But some of the Liverpool players would not have been happy with the surface in the middle of the park which did, in fact, resemble a moor.
Burnley obviously coped better and in Richard Chaplow they had the man of the match as he huffed and puffed to link the play.
Benitez fielded first-teamers Traore, Nunez, Sami Hyypia and Jerzy Dudek.
But England Under-21 midfielder John Welsh made his first start for Liverpool and David Raven played his second senior match in defence.
The Reds knew they were in for a tough time after the home side went close three times in the opening minutes.
Jean-Louis Valois was a constant threat and his through ball found Liverpool’s defence square and Chaplow raced away to force Dudek into a diving save, Hyypia gratefully conceding the corner.
Benítez stands by his team selection
The Guardian
Rafael Benítez insisted he had no regrets at having selected an under-strength Liverpool side last night, despite seeing the Premiership club humiliated by Burnley to depart this competition at the first hurdle for the first time since 1998.
The Spanish manager included only three players who started Saturday's Premiership defeat by Manchester United. "We don't have the squad to compete in four competitions at the top level," insisted Benítez. "You can't play all those games with the same players. It's impossible.
"If I'd used more senior players, perhaps we might have had problems in the next game [at Southampton on Saturday] or in the Champions League. We played against Tottenham Hotspur in the Carling Cup with young players and won, so we tried to do the same here. I don't think it was a mistake. The fans will understand that we tried."
Liverpool have suffered serious injuries to 10 first-team players this season, though the apparent lack of respect for this competition will still have grated with their supporters.
Not that the locals cared. The victorious manager Steve Cotterill had expected to face an under-strength line-up, though he admitted the absence of seniors, such as Steven Gerrard, did increase his expectations. "It does raise the expectancy levels when you see the team-sheet but we knew what to expect," said the Burnley manager "In saying that, they still had Jerzy Dudek, Sami Hyypia, Igor Biscan and Djimi Traoré out there, and we'd take any of the younger players on loan. So they're not bad.
At Anfield this has been the week of the smoking gun and the bleeding foot. After their self-inflicted defeat by Manchester United comes dismissal from the FA Cup courtesy of an own goal and a deliberately weakened team.
Rafael Benitez could not have predicted that Djimi Traoré would put through his own net, but it was the Liverpool manager's decision to field essentially a reserve team to face a very competent, if threadbare Burnley side, that had already knocked Aston Villa out of the Carling Cup.
Liverpool have frequently been in trouble in matches this season but last night there was no Steven Gerrard to rescue them. Milan Baros's introduction provided an attacking spark Liverpool had hitherto lacked but it proved too late and Antonio Nuñez's sending-off for a crude use of the elbow merely compounded the humiliation.
For the past few years many at Anfield have wondered how good the youngsters nurtured at Liverpool's academy are and argued that they should be given their head. Last night they were and given their display of ineptitude, they are unlikely to be asked again in a hurry. The lasting memory of the evening was of Sami Hyypia being given the run-around by Jean Louis Valois.
This was the third time Steve Cotterill had faced Liverpool in his managerial career and twice with Sunderland and once with Burnley he has yet to lose. But for a fingertip save from Jerzy Dudek, Burnley might have won more comfortably and his reward is a fourth round tie with Bournemouth. It may not mean much in Burnley but Bournemouth is where Cotterill lives and where he used to play. They might provide rather more resistance.
That last night's tie went ahead at all was something of a relief. However, the pitch had suffered from the kind of weather that had briefly transformed the Pennines into a snowfield, topped off with hail and further heavy rain which made the middle resemble a strip of soggy corrugated cardboard.
Under these circumstances, maybe it was not surprising that keeping any sort of possession was difficult, although Liverpool sometimes went to great lengths to give the ball away. The only time in the first hour they showed any propensity to finish came with the own goal as Traoré superbly back-heeled a low cross from Richard Chaplow firmly into his own net. It was another embarrassing goal, but this time at least Dudek could be absolved from blame.
Only three members of the side beaten by Manchester United at Anfield started at Turf Moor but one of them was Dudek, whose wounds from another goalkeeping error against Liverpool's greatest rivals had still not begun to scab over. Unsurprisingly, Burnley chose to test him often and early.
If the Pole wanted saves to restore his confidence, he was given his wish. As the home team heaved forward against a Liverpool side who could only have been familiar with each other from reserve fixtures at Chester, Chaplow, the night's most interesting figure, found himself clear on goal. This time, however, Dudek kept his nerve and then saved well from a drive from Micah Hide that spat through flurry of legs and which he must have seen very late.
Corners - five in the first half - found Dudek still looking dangerously absent-minded while the young Liverpool defence, stiffened by Traoré and Hyypia, showed frequent signs of panic even before the former's own goal. However, as the play slowed, you wondered if Burnley, whose resources were so thin that Cotterill was forced to name his first-team coach as a substitute, had the ability to punish them. The answer was not long in coming.
Burnley (4-5-1): Jensen; Sinclair, Cahill, McGreal, Camara; Roche, Chaplow, Hyde, Grant, Valois; Moore. Substitutes not used: Coyne (gk), O'Neill, Pilkington, Scott, Yates.
Liverpool (4-5-1): Dudek; Raven, Hyypia, Whitbread, Traoré (Baros, 66); Nuñez, Welsh (Mellor, 75), Potter, Biscan, Warnock; Sinama-Pongolle. Substitutes not used: Harrison (gk), Otsemobor, Smyth.
Referee: M Clattenburg (Tyne and Wear).
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