Jurgen Klopp puts Liverpool’s goalscoring problems down to decision-making after fourth straight blank

Over 400 minutes without a goal for Liverpool in the top flight

Jurgen Klopp (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp acknowledged his team continue to face a mental challenge of sorts after they lost at home to Burnley on Thursday night.

The Reds enjoyed almost total domination of the match in terms of possession, but created few clear-cut openings and wasted a host of good positions in the final third, before Ashley Barnes scored a late penalty to end an unbeaten home run in the Premier League which stretched back almost four years.

A 1-0 scoreline meant a fourth straight league game where the champions have failed to find the back of the net and Klopp assumed responsibility for the failing attack.

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“We lost a game which I think is impossible to lose, but we did it. That’s my fault because my job is to make sure the boys have the right amount of confidence and make the right decisions,” he said to Sky at full-time.

"That didn’t work out tonight; we created some situations but in the final moment our decision-making is not right. The problem is if something doesn’t work, we have to try harder, longer, more often and make better decisions. It didn’t work tonight and that’s what we have to admit. That’s why we lost.

"It’s always my fault. The things that don’t work are my fault. When it works, that’s the players because that’s what they make of it.

“If I make it clear which movements make sense because they’ll hurt the opponent and we don’t do it, then I have to make it clearer. It’s not only me, it’s for all managers the same.”

Questioned as to why Liverpool’s goals have dried up so dramatically - and they remain the top scorers in the league despite the recent blanks - Klopp pointed to not taking the big chances to score the game’s first goal meaning matters got more complicated later on.

"Playing against a low block, it helps a lot if you score one goal and we could have done that but didn’t. That changes it for the opponent because Burnley didn’t come here to lose 1-0. That changes games, you have to score the first one and then it makes things difficult.

"I never thought about us like a free-scoring unit. We always have to do a lot of things right to get in these positions.

"It’s not the first time it happened it football, it won’t be the last, but the good thing is we can change it.

“It’s not that we don’t create because of a lack of ability, it’s our decision-making is the problem. A difference between a good and very good footballer is decision-making. It’s not about how incredibly high your skillset is, it’s your mindset in that moment.”