At full-time on Saturday, the final whistle at Anfield was met by boos from sections of the home crowd, a sound that has become uncomfortably familiar this season.
Liverpool’s 1-1 draw with Burnley meant Arne Slot’s side failed to win any of their three home league matches against newly promoted opposition, something that has not happened since the 1980-81 top-flight campaign. Draws against Sunderland and Leeds earlier in the season were followed by another missed opportunity against a Burnley side struggling near the foot of the table.
Slot understood the reaction. “In my head it wasn’t booing, it was frustration,” he said. “If you, as Liverpool, are not disappointed by having a draw at home to Burnley then something is completely wrong.
“I completely understand the frustration. I have the same frustrations and the players definitely have the same frustrations as the fans.”
The result felt harsh on Liverpool, who dominated the game almost from start to finish. Burnley scored from their only effort on target, while the home side piled on the pressure. Liverpool recorded 76 touches in the opposition box, 32 shots, 11 on target and an expected goals figure of 2.95. Only three times since records began have they attempted more shots in a Premier League match without winning.
“I agree that we should have won this game,” Slot told Match of the Day. “There wasn’t a lot more I could ask in terms of chance creation. We have a lot of ball possession but I would love us to create more.
“If we play a bit more open, you always wonder if the other team can counter-attack you more, which you couldn’t. We had many moments but we could only score one.”
Liverpool had taken the lead through Florian Wirtz in the first half and, early in the second, it appeared only a matter of time before they added a second. The Kop responded with chants of “a team that plays the Liverpool way” as the hosts found spaces behind Burnley’s back line.
Wirtz went close to scoring again and Cody Gakpo had an effort cleared off the line, but Burnley equalised against the run of play when Marcus Edwards struck to silence Anfield.
“I wouldn’t say we switched off but we failed to bring the ball out from the back,” Slot said. “That is part of football. It sums up a large part of our season and today was another example of that.”
In hindsight, the missed first-half penalty from Dominik Szoboszlai loomed large, though Slot felt the game should have been settled long before the equaliser arrived.
“It’s not the first time. It is usually frustrating,” he said. “They come in different fashions. Sometimes you score a goal in stoppage time, expect to win, and then concede another in stoppage time.
“One team can have two chances, one almost an own goal, and score once, while the other has multiple chances and scores just one goal as well.”
Liverpool are now 12 games unbeaten in all competitions, but that run masks a growing sense of wastefulness. In four consecutive league draws, they could reasonably have expected to win at least three. Aside from the draw at Arsenal, points have been dropped at home to Leeds and Burnley, while a late lead was surrendered at Fulham despite a 94th-minute goal.
Those missed points have proved costly. An extra six would have lifted Liverpool to 42, seven clear of Manchester United in fifth and just a point behind Manchester City and Aston Villa in second and third.
“We have dropped far too many points when we didn’t deserve to and we hardly got a point when we deserved less,” Slot said. “The only one to blame is ourselves.”
There is some relief on the horizon. Mohamed Salah is expected to return to Merseyside in the coming days after Egypt’s third-place play-off defeat by Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations, where he also missed a penalty in the shootout.
With trips to Marseille and Bournemouth ahead, Liverpool will hope the return of their talisman can help turn dominance into wins, and quieten the growing frustration around Anfield.
