Jurgen Klopp laments draw: 'Liverpool need luck and the referee to make the right decisions'
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ByEurosport
Updated 16/09/2017 at 17:21 GMT
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has bemoaned the lack of finishing in his side's 1-1 draw with Burnley at Anfield in Premier League.
Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp with referee Roger East.
Image credit: Eurosport
Klopp's side dominated large swathes of the match after Mohamed Salah restored parity from the edge of the box to cancel out Scott Arfield's shock opening goal on 26 minutes.
Goalkeeper Nick Pope produced superb stops to deny Daniel Sturridge and Trent Alexander-Arnold with Dominic Solanke hitting the bar.
Klopp pinpointed his side's finishing as the main negative of the day, but felt referee Roger East blundered when he failed to award Mohammed Salah a penalty after he went down under pressure with Liverpool pressing for a winning goal.
He approached East after the match, and said: "I'm not too happy with the situation when Dominic Solanke hit the bar. I thought it was a penalty beforehand.
If Salah goes down.. if the centre-half goes down in the 18-yard box behind the striker, and if the striker goes to the ground. What should it be? He didn't play the ball. You need to have luck in football, and you need to have the referee who makes the right decisions.
"We draw at Watford, and we drew today after what I saw as a clear penalty situation.
"This is the best game we've played against Burnley since I've been here. It was really good and fluent. Of course, we have to win games.
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Jurgen Klopp, Manager of Liverpool speaks to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain of Liverpool before he comes on during the Premier League match between Liverpool and Burnley.
Image credit: Eurosport
"I'm angry about the game, not about the game... the performance.
"I think in a lot of moments of the game, you cannot play better football than we did today. You don't finish the situations.
"The goalkeeper has some outstanding saves and was lucky with the crossbar, but it was an unbelievably difficult game. We need to be cool, and that is what we tried to do."
Liverpool made seven changes from the 2-2 draw with Sevilla in the Champions League, but had 35 efforts at goal compared to five from Burnley.
Yet they could have lost if Joel Matip had not cleared a Ben Mee header off the line in the second period.
Burnley are one goal better off than Liverpool in seventh place in the table after beating Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and enjoying draws with Tottenham and Liverpool.
It has been a tough week for Liverpool, who were flogged 5-0 by Manchester City a week ago before being held by Sevilla.
"We made one big mistake around their goal. They had two headers after that," added Klopp.
"But it is 1-1, I'm not happy about it because of the performance. It is difficult to accept at the moment.
"The quality is there. I saw a great attitude. I saw them running, I saw them playing, I saw them fighting... I saw everything, but I didn't see them too often scoring. That is the problem. That is football, and that is the thing we have to accept."
The former Dortmund manager was quick to heap praise on the performance of Philippe Coutinho as he returned to the starting line-up following intense speculation he would join Barcelona during the summer transfer window.
"I think Coutinho had a really good game, and a big impact on the game," said Klopp.
"He was very important, but sometimes we use to him too much because people like to use his talents. He had a really good game, and showed a great attitude. He was a bit unlucky."
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