The Reds extended their unbeaten run to 12 matches with a 1–1 draw against the Clarets on Saturday, but given the circumstances—playing at Anfield against a Burnley side that's winless in their last 13 games—the result felt more like a missed opportunity than a point gained.
Despite taking a 1–0 lead into halftime, outshooting Burnley 7–1 with shots on target and dominating possession (73–27%), Liverpool were ultimately undone by a lack of clinical finishing, with missed chances — most notably Dominik Szoboszlai’s penalty off the bar — proving costly.
Sure, the current unbeaten run is a clear improvement on the string of losses earlier in the season, but dropping points twice to Leeds, conceding a late equalizer to Fulham, and now allowing a relegation-bound side to leave Anfield with a draw makes the progress feel like a modest uptick at best.
So, with yet another draw in the books, which three aspects of the match stood out most?
1. A highly disappointing return on set pieces continues
The Reds did well to earn nine corner kicks against Burnley, and with aerial threats like Virgil van Dijk, Hugo Ekitike, and Ibrahima Konaté attacking the ball in the air, Liverpool would have expected to generate at least one genuine chance from a set piece.
Despite the sheer volume of those opportunities, Liverpool failed to create a single genuinely threatening moment from those corners, with Martin Dúbravka scarcely tested by any of the Reds’ inswinging deliveries.
It was a deeply disappointing showing from orchestrated plays, particularly given that the club recently parted ways with its set-piece coach due to a lack of effectiveness in both scoring from and defending them; so far, there is little evidence that much has changed in that department.
Beyond their struggles from corners, penalty-taking — technically set pieces as well — proved costly.
Had Dominik Szoboszlai calmly rolled the ball into the bottom-left corner, as he so often does, rather than attempting to blast it into the top netting, Liverpool could have been 2–0 up at halftime, sending Burnley into the break with heads down.
This isn’t to suggest that Dom’s effort approached the level of showboating his backheel flick inside his own box against Barnsley reached, but his strike against Burnley does raise the question of whether the Hungarian, once again, played down to a weaker opponent.
In fact, Liverpool have now gone seven matches without scoring from a set piece, their last coming over a month ago when Hugo Ekitike headed home a Mo Salah corner against Brighton.
While the Reds don’t need to rely on set pieces the way Arsenal has this season, with so many options among both crossers and potential scorers, their display against Burnley was yet another reminder that this area of their game still requires significant improvement.
2. Slot's insistence on generating attacks from the left was stubborn
If moments like Szoboszlai’s penalty miss demand accountability from the players, then Arne Slot also deserves scrutiny for clearly preferring the attack to come from the left—a surprising tactic given how dynamic Jeremie Frimpong has been lately.
I thought Milos Kerkez did quite well against the Clarets, even coming close to registering an assist twice in the first half.
However, whenever the ball ran higher up through the midfield and final third on the left, the attack seemed to grow bland quickly.
Cody Gakpo has been rock solid for Liverpool since joining the club, but recently it seems defenders have figured out how to effectively counter his trademark “cut to the right” move.
Against Burnley, he lacked a clinical edge, with a strike cleared off the goal line that could have made it 2–0 in the second half.
On top of that, he failed to excute his lone attempt at a dribble; on the other hand, teenager Rio Ngumoha completed four of them successfully in only 75 minutes against Barnsley, calling Gakpo’s creative influence on the ball into question.
Meanwhile, it felt like Frimpong was barely given the chance to advance the ball down the right, registering three fewer touches in the box than Gakpo—a disappointing figure considering how electrifying his roving goal against Barnsley had been earlier in the week.
Sure, Liverpool were missing key right-sided players like Salah and Conor Bradley, but it was disappointing to see Slot seemingly show little trust in a player who has been in strong form to generate opportunities himself—a factor that may well have contributed to the draw.
Whether it’s because he’s Cody’s compatriot or simply a player he trusts for being at the club for a while, Slot’s recent insistence to lean on Cody to create chances has felt stubborn—a deeply puzzling development given how tactically flexible he was last season.
3. Florian Wirtz has truly arrived
The draw was obviously disappointing, but it’s still not a loss, so it’s worth focusing on at least one positive—and the standout against Burnley was clearly Florian Wirtz’s performance.
Thanks largely to the hard work of Ekitike, the ball fell to Wirtz’s feet inside the penalty are in the 42nd minute.
While the Flo of earlier this season might have panicked, the German made no mistake this time, smashing the ball into the back of the net to give the Reds a lead that should have held—and marking his fourth goal in six games.
The playmaker could have also easily recorded an assist had Gakpo been able to convert the aforementioned chance that was cleared off the line. If he had, it would have marked Wirtz’s second consecutive game with a G+A, underscoring just how impressive his recent form has been.
He even made two defensive contributions—a key interception and a recovery—a respectable showing for a player who’s recently been tasked with operating deep in the opposition’s final third.
This is the No. 7 that fans expected to see straight away: dazzling skills on the ball, a devastating shot, and the ability to create from almost anywhere on the pitch.
It may have taken some time to emerge, but the version of Wirtz that propelled Leverkusen to an unbeaten campaign now seems to have arrived at Liverpool.
In a season where it often feels like Wirtz has been let down by teammates failing to finish his chances, today served as the ultimate example: no other Liverpool player was nearly as clinical or creative as Flo.