'I completely understand' - Arne Slot addresses Anfield boos after Liverpool slip to disappointing draw against struggling Burnley

Liverpool fans vented their frustration as the final whistle blew at Anfield after a 1-1 draw. Slot's side were booed off the pitch after another disappointing performance against a side battling to avoid relegation to the Championship. Liverpool dominated possession against Burnley, and registered 32 shots on goal, but their only goal came when Wirtz fired home from inside the penalty area after 42 minutes. The result keeps Liverpool in fourth place in the table but means they have won just one of their last four Premier League matches.

Slot spoke about the boos after the game, telling reporters: "Yeah, in my head it wasn't booing but in my head it was frustration as well. 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."

The Liverpool boss also spoke after seeing his team drop points from a winning possession for the third time this season, adding: "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."

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Goalscorer Wirtz admitted it had been a frustrating afternoon for the Reds and that the draw felt like a defeat. He told the club's media: "Yeah, very frustrating. I think, as you said, we had a lot of chances – enough chances to decide the game early. We missed that today. So, very disappointing.

"A few times maybe we could decide a little bit better. But we were also – with Hugo [Ekitike]'s goal, which was offside, I think – a little bit unlucky in a few moments. But we have to be better in front of the goal. I think there weren't so many big, big chances but in the end we scored one goal and that was not enough today.

"It feels like a defeat. When we had so many shots and so many on target, I think we had to score more goals. But some days are like this – you try everything but in the end it doesn't go in the goal. We only take one point but I can only say [in] the next game we go again and try to do better."

Liverpool will now switch focus to the Champions League and a trip to Marseille to take on Roberto De Zerbi's side. Slot could welcome Mohamed Salah back into the squad, with the forward now set to return to the club after Egypt finished fourth at the Africa Cup of Nations on Saturday. Liverpool sit in ninth place in the Champions League standings after six games played, three points and seven places better off than Marseille.