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Liverpool and Stoke City played a 0-0 draw at Anfield in the Premier League. The home team had an ideal chance to go in front in the opening 10 minutes but Mohamed Salah couldn't capitalise on it.
Danny Ings did put the ball in the back of the net but his goal was ruled out as he was marginally offside.
Paul Lambert had organised his Stoke team brilliantly in defence to counter the Liverpool attack and it worked perfectly as it proved to be the cause of frustration for the home team.
Jurgen Klopp and his side can only blame themselves as they missed an ideal opportunity to go level with Manchester United but instead remain in third place, two points behind the Red Devils.
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As for Stoke City, the deserved point helps them move up to 18th in the table, on 30 points with the next two fixtures looking very winnable in their chase for survival.
Here's what went right/wrong for Liverpool:
#3 Complacency costs Liverpool
The one phrase to sum up Liverpool's performance against Stoke City will be a lack of intensity in the first half.
Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold had great chances to put the Reds in front but failed to comply with it.
However, the home team had only shot on target in the first 45 minutes and following this, Klopp's men seemed to have taken their foot off the gas.
This, in turn, allowed Stoke to get into the game letting them go forward and creating chances of their own.
The one primary feature of Liverpool this season has been their ability to blow away their opponents when they score in the opening 20 minutes.
But when this fails to happen, the opposition tends to get in the game and the Merseysiders fail to clinch the victory, as it so as happened previously this campaign against the likes of Manchester United, West Brom, and Porto.
Liverpool finally showed some urgency but it was after 60 minutes when Stoke decided to sit back and let the home team have the entire attacking share.
They ended up having 20 attempts at goal but only five of them were on target with the majority of them being nothing more than half-chances.
#2 Firmino gets Isolated
Sadio Mane's absence due to injury meant that Roberto Firmino had to drift into the left wing with Ings playing up front.
However, the outcome of this makeshift did not go in Liverpool's favour as Firmino had a very poor game.
The Brazilian did not have a single shot the entire game and was able to complete just 71% of his passes. Similarly, he failed to deliver any successful crosses into the box and had just one key pass.
Firmino has been exceptional playing through the middle, as a Centre Forward throughout the season but the performance against Stoke may be an indication for the future as deploying him on the left wing limits his overall game.
This further impacted the team as he was not present in the box in goalscoring positions when needed as the Reds failed to break the deadlock.
#1 Failing to break down Stoke's defence and wasteful in front of goal
Salah had the best chance of the game to put Liverpool in front when he was put through on goal, one on one with goalkeeper Jack Butland.
His idea of chipping the ball was a wise one but surprisingly he put it wide, to the shock of the Anfield faithful and viewers across the world.
Salah redeemed himself swiftly by playing a short pass in the box for another wonderful opportunity but an extra touch by the incoming Alexander-Arnold led to another wasted chance as Liverpool found it hard to break down the Stoke City defence for the rest of the game.
Salah put in a very disappointing performance as he seven shots in total but none of them were on target.
On the other hand, he was dispossessed on three occasions and more shockingly, failed to complete a single dribble as he was closed down very well by Stoke left-back Erik Pieters.
Failure to win aerial battles and penetrate the backline further resulted in the attackers losing the ball, getting dispossessed as Stoke made multiple clearances and this ultimately affected the home side as they were unable to sustain any momentum in the 90 minutes and beyond.
The Merseysiders created most of their chances in the latter stages of the game but none of their shots seemed to threaten Butland's goal which ended up in them coming up and the Potters earning a well-deserved draw.
