How the national media reacted to Liverpool’s 1-1 home draw against Burnley in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot(Image: Gaspafotos/MB Media/Getty Images)
Another draw that felt like a defeat. Liverpool prompted little cheer when they moved on to 12 games unbeaten with a 1-1 Premier League stalemate against struggling Burnley at Anfield on Saturday afternoon.
After Dominik Szoboszlai had missed a penalty, Florian Wirtz put the Reds ahead only for the champions to waste a number of chances before a brief Burnley period of pressure led to a goal for Marcus Edwards midway through the second half.
It made for another frustrating afternoon. And while the ECHO was in attendance and provided our usual level of coverage, here’s how the national media viewed a positive result for Arne Slot’s side.
Paul Joyce, formerly of this parish, pointed out in The Times that Liverpool actually played rather well for the most part but nobody wants to remember that bit.
“The day is coming, Arne Slot has promised, when everything will finally click for his Liverpool side,” he pens. “For the time being, however, there is just more self-sabotage, exasperation and the costly dropping of points.
“If ever a game encapsulated what is proving to be a quite tortuous season, it was this, with Slot, the Liverpool head coach, watching his side contrive to miss palatable opportunities, including a penalty from Dominik Szoboszlai, before being caught square on the jaw by a sucker punch.
“Marcus Edwards’s accomplished goal for Burnley came just after they had created another glorious chance, as Liverpool paid dearly for a brief passage of play in which they inexplicably ceded control. That is all it takes at this level for regret and recrimination to take hold.
“Amid the din of expectation, it mattered little that for a spell this was actually shaping up to be one of Liverpool’s more entertaining performances of late although, admittedly, that bar has been set low.”
Andy Hunter, another ex-ECHO scribe, was of the same opinion in The Guardian.
“Anfield’s emotional verdict to another dispiriting result arrived in the form of boos,” he opines. “Wisely, Arne Slot chose not to dispute it. The Liverpool head coach got almost everything he wished for against Burnley – more creativity and more chances in particular – but the failure to kill off a relegation-threatened opponent who scored from their only shot on target brought familiar torment.
“Liverpool had 32 attempts on Martin Dubravka’s goal, including one from the penalty spot, with 11 on target. Two were cleared off the line by the Burnley defender Bashir Humphreys.
“Slot had asked for dominant ball possession to yield more opportunities and here was the response, of sorts. Only Florian Wirtz converted, however, and the champions were held to a fourth successive Premier League draw when Marcus Edwards rewarded Burnley’s improved second half showing with a fine equaliser. More missed chances followed from Liverpool before a chorus of condemnation greeted the final whistle.”
Lewis Steele of the Daily Mail preferred a more dramatic take and believes Liverpool are almost humiliating themselves at the moment.
“The glass-half-full take is that this is now 12 unbeaten but the glass-half-empty argument is that, well, this recent run has been uninspiring, insipid and full of vulnerability as, yet again, they tossed away a commanding position,” he says.
“At least the Reds stayed committed to Dry January, this a fourth straight draw since the turn of the year. The 0-0 at Arsenal was pleasing but points dropped against Leeds, Fulham and Burnley were borderline embarrassing, especially taken as a trio.”
Meanwhile, Paul Gorst, the ECHO’s tallest hack, believes Liverpool have erred in letting a team as troubled as Manchester United back into the scrap for Champions League qualification.
“Their top-four status should have been all but sewn up this month but stalemates with Leeds United, Fulham, league leaders Arsenal and now relegation-threatened Burnley, means a resurgent Manchester United, who were deserved 2-0 victors over Manchester City earlier in the day, will feel they can reel in their historic enemy,” he types.
“How galling would it be to have top-four status pilfered from them by a United who have largely been in disarray for years?
“It’s likely that the top five will qualify for Europe’s premier competition but that won’t be any sort of soothing balm right now to a set of fans who aired their frustrations in no uncertain terms at the final whistle of this 1-1 draw. Slot at least admitted he understood their discontent.”
