Arne Slot on Liverpool boos: ‘I share the same frustrations as the fans’

At the start of the second half it looked like it was only a matter of time before Liverpool added a second goal to Florian Wirtz’s first-half strike.

From the Kop came the famous slogan “A team that plays like Liverpool”.

It wasn’t heavy metal football, but after weeks of struggling to break the low blocks, Liverpool were playing with some more momentum and getting behind the Burnley backline.

Wirtz went close again before Gakpo cleared the line but Burnley suddenly found an equalizer through Marcus Edwards to silence Anfield.

“I wouldn’t say we closed, but we didn’t manage to get the ball out of the back. That’s part of football. It sums up a big part of our season and today was another example of that,” the Liverpool boss added.

Disappointment continued for the slot. In hindsight, this game might have had a different outcome if Dominik Szoboszlai had converted the penalty in the first half, but regardless of that miss, Liverpool should have put an end to the game long before Burnley equalised.

“This isn’t the first time. It’s usually frustrating,” the Liverpool boss said. “They come in different forms. Sometimes, we score a goal in stoppage time and you expect to win the game, then you concede another goal in stoppage time.

“But yes, in football a 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 can only score one goal.”

They are now unbeaten in 12 games but the worst thing for Liverpool is that they need to win at least three in a run of four consecutive league draws.

Apart from the draw at Arsenal, they dropped points at home to Leeds and Burnley and were unable to maintain the lead against Fulham despite scoring in the 94th minute.

Those extra six points alone would put Liverpool on 42 points, seven points ahead of Manchester United in fifth place, and one point behind Manchester City and Aston Villa in second and third.

“We gave up too many points when we didn’t deserve it, and almost no points when we deserved even less,” Slot lamented. “The only people to blame are ourselves.”

Liverpool can at least look forward to the return of Mohamed Salah in the coming days.

Salah also missed a penalty during Egypt’s third-place African Cup of Nations play-off defeat against Nigeria and will return to Merseyside in the coming days.

With trips to Marseille and Bournemouth looming next week, there is no doubt that getting their talisman back can only be a positive for Liverpool.