Dan Burn drops brutally honest claim about Liverpool player that’s going to sting
Alexis Mac Allister will have to take at least some of the blame for Dan Burn’s opening goal against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final.
The Geordie’s header set the tone for the remainder of the encounter, with Newcastle proving the far more dominant, physical side.
In truth, the Reds were fortunate not to have been blown away on the scoreline after the cup winners fired 17 shots (six on target) to the former’s seven (two on target).
Matters were hardly helped by Mo Salah’s abnormally invisible showing at Wembley Stadium, though there were truly few Liverpool players who could leave London with their head held high.
Alexis Mac Allister will wince at Dan Burn comments
You could forgive Alexis Mac Allister for grimacing a little if he caught goalscorer Burn’s post-match comments.
The defender – standing at 6’ 7” to the Argentine midfielder’s diminutive 5’ 9” – admitted he took advantage of his opponent’s failure to keep his eye on the ball.
“I knew that Alexis wasn’t looking at the ball, so I’d be able to get a good jump on him,” the 32-year-old told Sky Sports.
“As soon as I headed it, I knew it was in. It was just one of them.”
"I don't really want to go to sleep, I feel like I'm dreaming"
Dan Burn reacts to Newcastle's Carabao Cup win… and is gate-crashed by his skipper pic.twitter.com/m4MTiAnUfO
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) March 16, 2025
Arne Slot explains logic behind Mac Allister marking Burn
To be completely fair to our midfield technician, Arne Slot isn’t blameless for how ruthlessly Newcastle exposed this chink in our armour on Sunday afternoon.
The classy Liverpool boss did justify his rationale behind his tactics, which left Mac Allister open to being dominated by a far more physically imposing player.
“I can explain. We play zonal so we have five players zonally close to our goal, so if the ball falls there it is always one of the five stronger players that are going to attack that ball,” the Dutchman was quoted by the club’s official website.
“And we have three players that man-mark and Macca is one of them. Normally a player like Dan Burn or another one runs to the zone because normally… I think he’s an exception to that because I have never seen in my life a player from that far away heading a ball with so much force into the far corner.”
To be clear, we’re not opposed to zonal marking per se. However, surely it should have been made clear from the off that any potential situation pitting our World Cup winner against Dan Burn, a veritable behemoth of a man, would be far from ideal.
Zonal marking must still be predicated on the understanding that certain combinations of players can result in a total mismatch.
In Liverpool’s case, it was one that was brutally exposed, paving the way for Newcastle to snatch another trophy from our grasp.
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