Liverpool frustration laid bare after Burnley draw
Liverpool’s 1–1 draw with Burnley at Anfield did not feel like a single poor result. It felt like a reckoning. On Post Match Raw from Anfield Index, Trev Downey was joined by Dave Hendrick and Jim Boardman, and the conversation quickly became a raw dissection of a team that looks stuck in neutral under Arne Slot, despite an unbeaten run that few involved seemed willing to celebrate.
Hendrick set the tone early, calling it “a rotten performance” and going further by saying, “comparative to the talent we have in the team we’re the worst watch in the league.” For him, this was not about a bad afternoon but about a deeper issue. “We are bereft of ideas,” he said, adding that Liverpool’s main attacking concept appeared to be “give it to Wirtz and hope for the best.”
Burnley, a side near the bottom of the table, left Anfield with a point, and few on the podcast felt surprised.
Unbeaten run under scrutiny
Much of the discussion centred on Liverpool’s unbeaten sequence and whether it carried any real meaning. Hendrick was unequivocal. “That is loser talk,” he said, responding to claims that the run proved progress. “We’re closer pointswise to Leeds United who sit 16th than we are to top.”
He backed that up with numbers, pointing out that in the league run Liverpool had four wins and six draws, with half the matches coming against teams in the bottom five. “This unbeaten run means nothing,” he said. “It’s an embarrassment of a run.”
Jim Boardman agreed, noting that context mattered more than headlines. “People observers aren’t seeing what we’re seeing,” he said. “They’re forgetting the manner of it as well.” For Boardman, this was the kind of football a struggling club might accept for survival, not what Liverpool should tolerate with elite players.
Coaching questions around Arne Slot
The sharpest criticism was aimed at Arne Slot and his in game management. Hendrick questioned how quickly things had changed. “Last season we were watching regularly as his substitutions or tweaks at halftime won us countless games,” he said. “This season he doesn’t look like he has a clue what to do at halftime.”
Boardman echoed that frustration, describing a side lacking ambition from the touchline. “The manager stood at the touchline doesn’t seem to have that same ambition,” he said, adding that Burnley’s Scott Parker “could do better with this squad than our current manager.”
Hendrick went further, arguing that the issues were systemic. “If you’ve got so many problems across the club, maybe you only have one problem,” he said. Later, he distilled it even more bluntly. “We’re not good at anything. We have so many outrageously good players that it is actually impressive how we struggle to be good at anything.”
Burnley expose Liverpool weaknesses
Tactically, the Burnley equaliser became a symbol of Liverpool’s fragility. Hendrick described it as a goal born of movement and midfield passivity. “Both of our central midfielders are either side of Jaden Anthony,” he said. “He makes a run. They look at each other. Neither of them go with him.”
Boardman highlighted how easy it was for Burnley to threaten. “All he had to do was take the ball and run at us and we were completely vulnerable,” he said. Even late on, Liverpool looked more likely to concede than score. “We’re playing Burnley at home and we can’t get out of our own half in stoppage time,” Hendrick noted.
Respect, reality and what comes next
Despite the anger, Hendrick was careful to stress respect for Slot’s achievements. “This man won us a league title,” he said. “He deserves forever our respect.” But sentiment could not override evidence. “There is no evidence to suggest that he can turn this around,” Hendrick concluded. “You can be respectful of him and say you want him gone.”
That balance between gratitude and frustration defined the Post Match Raw discussion. Liverpool drew with Burnley, but the deeper concern voiced by Hendrick and Boardman was about direction, identity and whether Arne Slot still has the answers.
