LIVERPOOL, England — Arne Slot said he “completely understands” the frustration of the Liverpool fans who booed the team following Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Burnley in the Premier League.
Florian Wirtz gave the hosts the lead at Anfield before Marcus Edwards levelled the scoring in the second half.
The result means Liverpool have now failed to beat any of the league’s three newly promoted sides at Anfield this term, with just one win in their last four league games. While they remain fourth in the table, they are now just one point above fifth-placed Manchester United.
“Yeah, in my head it wasn’t booing but in my head it was frustration as well,” Slot said when asked about the reaction of the Anfield crowd.
“So if we are Liverpool and we play against Burnley, who we have to give credit to for defending, clearing balls off the line, all the things you want to see if you are the Burnley manager, trying everything to prevent us scoring.
“But 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.”
Saturday’s result was the third time Liverpool have dropped points from winning positions in the Premier League this season. It came despite Slot’s side registering 32 shots at goal, including 11 on target, and an expected goals (xG) total of 2.95 — their highest in the league this season.
Liverpool also had 73% of possession against a Burnley side languishing in 19th position with just 14 points from 22 games.
Slot added: “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 [nine in 19 from September to November] — where we are the team creating more than the team we face — but then we were losing those games.
“Then we have started to become a team that was a bit more careful in conceding chances, and that led to the fact that it made it also more difficult to create a lot.
“As a result of that, we have been in a lot of games where we haven’t lost, and I think today was a game where I liked seeing us have even more possession than we would usually have, generating a lot of chances, and usually that comes with, if you take more risk, it comes with the other team counterattacking you, but we controlled that really well.”
Information from ESPN Research was used in this report.
