Jurgen Klopp said Liverpool’s poor decision making was to blame for their 1-0 defeat at home to Burnley on Thursday, a result which saw the Reds lose ground in the Premier League title race.
Having dominated the majority of the game against Sean Dyche’s men, Liverpool were unable to break the deadlock, with a combination of Divock Origi’s poor finishing and Nike Pope’s superb reactions keeping the score at 0-0.
The Reds received a sucker-punch late on as Alisson brought down Ashley Barnes in the area, with the striker stepping up to slot home the resulting penalty and end Liverpool’s incredible home league record.
Klopp was quick to stress in his post-match interview that he believes his side’s poor decision making is the reason they’ve struggled to break teams down of late, and that it’s an area of their game he’s keen to work on.
“It’s not that we don’t create chances because the players don’t have the ability, it’s because of our decision making,” he told Sky Sports. “The difference between a good footballer and a very good footballer is decision making. It’s not rocket science.
“In the second half we had a lot of good moments with Trent [Alexander-Arnold] especially, he tried to pass the ball inside and then we are not in the right moment. They are waiting for the cross and then realising when the ball is on its way ‘oh it’s for me’ and then they move.
“It’s not about how high your skill set is, it’s about making decisions in that moment. If something doesn’t work we have to try harder, longer and make better decisions.”
Since the Reds’ emphatic 7-0 win over Crystal Palace in December, they’ve mustered just a single goal from 90 shots in the Premier League, a barren spell which has seen them drop six points behind leaders Manchester United.
Despite Liverpool’s inability to find the back of the net in recent weeks, Klopp took full blame for his side’s recent poor performances, though he conceded he wasn’t sure how they managed to come away from the clash with Burnley empty-handed.
“We lost the game which is actually impossible to lose, but we did it,” he added. “That’s my fault, my job is to make sure the boys feel the right amount of confidence, make the right decisions but obviously it didn’t work out tonight [Thursday].
“We had the ball a lot, we created some situations, that’s all ok, but in the final moment our decision making is not right at the moment.”