Not for the first time this season, the full-time whistle at Anfield was met with boos from sections of the home support.
For the first time since the 1980-81 top-flight season, Liverpool had failed to win any of their three home league games against newly promoted sides.
Arne Slot’s side drew 1-1 against Sunderland last month before drawing 0-0 against Leeds on New Year’s Day. Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Burnley completed the set.
Asked about the boos, Slot said: “In my head it wasn’t booing but in my head it was frustration as well. 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.”
In fairness, Slot’s side did more than enough to win here against a Burnley side that scored from their only attempt on target.
The statistics alone told the story. Liverpool had 76 touches in the opposition box, 32 shots, 11 attempts on target and an xG of 2.95.
Only three times since records began have Liverpool taken more shots in a Premier League game 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. I don’t know how many moments we had but we could only score one.”
There was a period at the start of the second half when it looked like a matter of time before Liverpool would add a second goal to Florian Wirtz’s first-half strike.
From the Kop came the famous chant that goes “A team that plays the Liverpool way”.
It was hardly heavy metal football, but after weeks of struggling to break down low blocks, Liverpool were playing with some added impetus and getting in behind the Burnley backline.
Wirtz came close again before Cody Gakpo had an effort cleared off the line but, out of nowhere, Burnley found a leveller through Marcus Edwards to silence Anfield.
“I wouldn’t say we switched off but we failed to bring the ball out from the back,” said Slot. “That is part of football. It sums up a large part of our season and today was another example of that.”
In hindsight, had Dominik Szoboszlai converted his first-half penalty this game could have had a different outcome but, regardless of that miss, Liverpool should have put it to bed well before Burnley equalised.
“It’s not the first time. It is usually frustrating,” Slot said. “They come in different fashions. Sometimes it is that we are scoring a goal in stoppage time and you expect to win the game and then you concede another goal in stoppage time.
“But yeah, in football, one team can have two chances – one was almost an own goal by us – and score one goal while the other team has multiple chances and scores just one goal as well.”
It is now 12 games unbeaten but the damning thing for Liverpool is that in this run of four consecutive league draws, they should have won at least three.
Aside from the draw at Arsenal, they have dropped points at home to Leeds and Burnley and could not hold on to a lead at Fulham despite scoring in the 94th minute.
Those extra six points alone would have put Liverpool on 42 points, seven points .clear of Manchester United in fifth and one point behind Manchester City and Aston Villa, who are 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,” said Slot. “The only one to blame is ourselves.”
At the very least, Liverpool can look forward to having forward Mohamed Salah back over the coming days.
Salah also missed a penalty in the shootout during Egypt’s third-place play-off defeat by Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations and will return to Merseyside over the coming days.
With trips to Marseille and Bournemouth coming up over the next week, there is little doubt that having their talisman back can only be a positive for Liverpool.
