National media react as Liverpool suffers 'embarrassing' lapse in Burnley draw

Liverpool were held to yet another 1-1 draw in the Premier League by struggling Burnley at Anfield on Saturday, prompting strong reactions from national media as Arne Slot's side dropped more points

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot during the draw with Burnley(Image: Gaspafotos/MB Media/Getty Images)

Another draw that felt like a defeat, Liverpool generated little excitement as it extended its unbeaten run to 12 matches with a 1-1 Premier League draw against struggling Burnley at Anfield on Saturday afternoon.

Following Dominik Szoboszlai's penalty miss, Florian Wirtz gave the Reds the lead, only for the champions to squander numerous opportunities before a brief spell of Burnley pressure resulted in Marcus Edwards finding the net midway through the second half.

It proved to be another afternoon of frustration. Here's how the national media assessed the result...

Paul Joyce highlighted in The Times that Liverpool actually performed quite well for much of the match, but nobody seems keen to recall that particular detail.

"The day is coming, Arne Slot has promised, when everything will finally click for his Liverpool side," he writes. "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 shared similar sentiments in The Guardian.

"Anfield's emotional verdict to another dispiriting result arrived in the form of boos," he writes. "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.

Dominik Szoboszlai missed a penalty against Burnley(Image: Getty Images)

"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 opted for a more dramatic interpretation and reckons Liverpool are bordering on self-humiliation at present.

"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."

In the meantime, Paul Gorst of the Liverpool Echo reckons Liverpool have made a mistake in allowing a side as struggling as Manchester United back into the battle 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 writes.

"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."