The full-time whistle at Anfield was met by a smattering of boos after Liverpool played out a frustrating 1-1 draw with Burnley.
The reigning champions endured yet another forgettable afternoon in a season that has been packed with them as Florian Wirtz’s opener was cancelled out by Marcus Edwards’ second-half strike.
Liverpool’s misery was compounded by the fact that Dominik Szoboszlai had earlier struck the bar with a penalty won by Cody Gakpo, while Edwards’ goal came from the visitors’ sole shot on target across the 90 minutes.
However, Liverpool only had themselves to blame for the wasteful finishing that meant they scored just once from 32 attempts of their own.
Saturday’s result left Arne Slot’s side still hanging on to that all-important final Champions League qualification place in fourth, but made it four successive draws and just five wins from their last 17 outings in the Premier League.
It is a wretched return that meant head coach Slot could understand why supporters were not happy following this latest setback.
He said: “In my head it wasn’t just a boo, but in my head it was frustration as well. We are Liverpool and we play Burnley, who we have to give credit how they defended, cleared balls off the line; all the things you want to see if you are a Burnley manager, players try to do everything that prevents us from scoring.
“But if we, as Liverpool, are not disappointed by having a draw against Burnley at home then something is completely wrong. I completely understand the frustration. I am the same and the players definitely have the same frustrations as the fans have.”
Burnley taking anything out of the game had looked unlikely following a bright Liverpool start in which Milos Kerkez got in behind down the left only to see his low cross toward Hugo Ekitike cut out at the last moment.
The hosts’ endeavour looked set to be rewarded just past the half-hour mark when Florentino LuÃs clumsily brought down Gakpo in the box to give away a penalty, only for Szoboszlai to fluff his attempt.
However, the visitors’ resistance was finally broken just before half-time, Curtis Jones recycling the ball following another Martin Dubravka save and teeing up Wirtz to smash home emphatically from just inside the box.
Liverpool started the second period in similarly dominant fashion, but were left indebted to their goalkeeper Alisson Becker with an hour gone as he did well to keep out Ibrahima Konaté’s interception attempt after Edwards had crossed in.
That sparked a period of Burnley probing that then ended with a brilliant Edwards finish across Alisson, following Luis’ well-weighted ball in behind.
Slot later said of that part of the game: “I think there was one big warning sign when we nearly scored an own goal and that chance, and the goal we conceded, came from similar situations where we wanted to bring the ball out from the back and we were caught twice in possession.
“That led to a dangerous situation and I think they were the only moments where we struggled, but both came in the same five-minute period so maybe it looked like we were struggling a bit more.”
As the Dutchman alluded to, the champions had suddenly found themselves in a contest that had never previously looked likely to break out, and they piled forward in an attempt to restore their advantage.
However, Ekitike’s failure to divert in a Jones cross and an offside strike from the Frenchman were the closest the hosts came before the final whistle, leading to Anfield showing its frustration at the very end.
That reaction left Slot understandably disappointed, saying: “It’s not for the first time, it is usually frustrating. 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.
“I think these games we have played quite a lot where we are the team creating more than the team we face, but then we were losing those games.”
Meanwhile, his counterpart Scott Parker was delighted with a point that leaves his side eight points shy of safety in the English top flight.
He said: “We had to weather a lot in the first half but we showed more of our quality in the second half. We changed a few things at half-time, it was important we were still in the game then, we were braver in possession and well worthy of our goal.
“It was an incredible finish [Edwards’ first of the season]. If I’m going to be critical, the one before was probably easier for him. It was a well-worked goal and a great ball by Tino.
“The penalty was soft but once the referee gives it on-field it’s never going to be overturned. The key for us was getting in at half-time still in the game so we could fix a few things.”
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