EPL

Klopp takes the blame as goal-shy Liverpool left stunned by Burnley

By Sports Desk January 21, 2021

Jurgen Klopp accepted full responsibility after Liverpool's 68-game unbeaten home run in the Premier League came to a stunning end against Burnley on Thursday.

The Reds' title defence spluttered further as they failed to score for a fourth successive league outing, Ashley Barnes' 83rd-minute penalty consigning them to a shock defeat on Merseyside.

Liverpool had not been beaten at their own ground in the top flight since April 2017, three years and 273 days ago. Crystal Palace were the last visiting team to triumph at Anfield.

Klopp saw the hosts have 27 total shots - the most Liverpool have had in a single league match without finding the net since April 2013 - and 72 per cent possession, yet they once again drew a blank.

"We lost the game, which I think is actually impossible to lose but we did it," Klopp told Sky Sports. 

"That's my fault because my job is to make sure the boys have the right feelings, the right amount of confidence, they make the right decisions and all these kinds of things and that obviously didn't work out for tonight because we had the ball a lot.  

"We created some situations, it was all okay, but in the final moment obviously our decision-making is not right at the moment and that's the problem.  

"You have the ball in the right place, then you don't shoot, then you pass, I'm pretty sure I said the same thing last week and the problem is if something doesn't work you have to try harder, longer, more often and again and again and make better decisions. 

"It obviously didn't work out tonight and that's what we have to admit. Nothing to say about it, that's why we lost the game."

Since Sadio Mane's 12th-minute strike in the 1-1 draw with West Brom on December 27, Liverpool have had 87 shots without scoring.

The shock loss leaves them six points behind leaders Manchester United, while they have gone five Premier League games without a win for just the second time in Klopp's tenure.

Asked to explain his side's problem finding the net, Klopp said:  "I never thought about us as a free-scoring side or unit. We have to do a lot of things right to arrive in these positions.

"It's not the first time it has happened in football and it won't be the last time. The good thing is we can change it - we just have to work on it.

"Tonight we cannot do that for this game, but we can use it for the next one.

"It's not that we don't create the chances because the players don't have the ability to do so, it's our decision-making that's the problem."

Liverpool are back in action on Sunday in the FA Cup, travelling to Old Trafford to take on United in the fourth round of the competition.

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