Jurgen Klopp’s complaints about a self-fulfilling prophecy came back to haunt him as his side suffered yet more defensive dithering in the 1-1 draw at home to Burnley.

Liverpool’s shortcomings at the back were placed under the microscope this week after conceding a lead in the midweek Champions League draw with Sevilla, and despite the German’s protestations the Clarets provided more evidence for the case against the defence.

Sean Dyche’s well-drilled side took the lead through Scott Arfield with their first shot on target after hesitation by centre-backs Joel Matip and Ragnar Klavan allowed the ball to drop between them in the middle of the penalty area.

Mohamed Salah’s fifth goal of the season, and his fourth in succession at Anfield, quickly restored parity but what followed was more a failure of Klopp’s attack to break down Burnley’s determined defence as they finished with 35 shots but just nine on target.

Here are three things we learned from the draw at Anfield.

KLOPP’S PERPLEXING SUBSTITUTIONS

The narrative of a frustrating day had been set from the 60th minute as wave after wave Liverpool failed to break through Burnley’s defensive dam.

But Klopp could have flipped the script were it not his excruciating insistence on making subs late in the game.

This isn’t the first time the German has come in for criticism over his inability to make an impact with men from the bench and while it’s difficult to really quantify what impact can be made – save for goals or assists – the Reds simply needed something new against the visitors.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results and Klopp was driving supporters mad with his reluctance to make a change until the 78th minute.

Even when he did blink and use his subs they left us rubbing our eyes. An argument can be made they had all their best attackers on the pitch so no switch was needed but then when he did make the swap he took off Roberto Firmino and Philippe Coutinho. Inexplicable, really.

If Plan A doesn’t work, is there a Plan B? On this evidence, it doesn’t appear so.

Jurgen Klopp with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Dominic Solanke

BURNLEY’S DIVINE INTERVENTION FROM POPE

It’s a running joke that goalkeepers turn up at Anfield and suddenly decide they’re Gigi Buffon and Burnley stopper Nick Pope was the latest incarnation.

The 25-year-old was making his full Premier League debut as he stood in for Tom Heaton after dislocating his shoulder in the win over Crystal Palace and he was superb making eight saves, three collections and one claim.

Credit also to centre-back duo James Tarkowski and Ben Mee who were both outstanding but Pope deserves to be singled out.

He displayed lightning-quick reactions and incredible agility to keep Dominic Solanke’s effort out after he’d pinged the bar in the 85th minute to secure a point for the visitors.

A brilliant performance, especially considering Liverpool rained in 35 shots in total.

Burnley stopper Nick Pope

CAN IS LIVERPOOL’S BEST OPTION AT NO6

Klopp made seven changes to his starting XI and aside from a first start for Coutinho, the most noteworthy was captain Jordan Henderson being dropped to the bench with Emre Can moving deeper to operate in the No6 slot.

Defensively question marks remain over Can’s suitability for the role with his tendency to get caught out of position meaning he does give away rash challenges – he committed three fouls against Burnley.

However, from an attacking point of view he offers more than Henderson. Klopp’s midfield trio is usually made up of a box-to-box mid, an attacking mid and a defensive mid with the 23-year-old taking up the former responsibility.

But he demonstrated his passing ability from deep to wonderfully assist Mohamed Salah while his passing accuracy in general was a huge bump up on Henderson’s season’s average of 75 percent as he hit 87 percent, a number significantly more representative of a No6.

Emre Can notched an 87 percent pass success rate