Defensive woes a bigger headache for Slot than getting Isak and Salah to fire

Record signing and Liverpool talisman continue to toil but it is crumbling foundations at back where real problems lie.

Liverpool manager Arne Slot reacts on the touchline. Pic: Peter Byrne/PA Wire.

The time has come to start judging Alexander Isak fairly as a £125million Liverpool centre forward, Arne Slot said on Friday. In that case judgment must be harsh but, as Britain’s most expensive footballer sat alongside Mohamed Salah on the Liverpool bench while the Premier League champions tried in vain to force an equaliser against Manchester United without them, it was not Slot’s misfiring forward line that warranted the fiercest criticism at Anfield. His defensive foundation has evaporated.

Yes, Isak was largely anonymous in the No 9 role and Salah again poor as his individual toils continued against the club he usually plunders. The Sweden international had his first shot on target in the Premier League as a Liverpool player in the 35th minute, well saved by United’s latest goalkeeper Senne Lammens. Salah squandered a glorious second-half chance in front of the Kop and neither could complain when their numbers eventually came up. Cody Gakpo also struck the woodwork three times and somehow failed to score a second moments after Harry Maguire’s winner.

It should have been impossible for Liverpool to lose a game in which they created so many chances, Slot claimed. But it is not impossible with a defence in this form, as Crystal Palace, Chelsea and now United have proven.

As he presided over a fourth successive defeat as Liverpool head coach, the first man to do so since Brendan Rodgers in November 2014, Slot must have despaired at a defensive performance that invited United to take the initiative as well as their first victory at Anfield since January 2016. Littered with the same mistakes that Liverpool’s coaching staff had worked on eradicating after the international break, including another set-piece goal, it was a display that completely derailed the champions’ second half recovery and cost them the game.

Momentum was finally with the hosts when Gakpo cancelled out Bryan Mbeumo’s early breakthrough. Liverpool could sense another late victory with substitutes Hugo Ekitiké, Curtis Jones and Federico Chiesa sparking improvement and United in retreat. Instead it was another late Premier League defeat, the third in succession, after Liverpool’s set-piece frailties re-emerged and Maguire found himself one of three United players unmarked behind Ibrahima Konaté in the 84th minute.

A thumping header into the goal that Maguire blazed over in the dying seconds of last season’s 2-2 draw gave Ruben Amorim the finest win of his turbulent United reign. For all the negativity surrounding Amorim it was his team that performed with clear purpose and a well-executed plan for the majority of a compelling contest. The first back-to-back league wins of Amorim’s reign were the result. Slot’s side again looked like strangers at times, particularly when conceding a set-piece goal for the fifth time in the Premier League this season.

Liverpool were found wanting from the inception to the execution of Mbeumo’s 62-second opener. There was no purchase on the initial header from Virgil van Dijk, a likely consequence of having to go through two players to connect with the ball, admittedly, and no pressure on Bruno Fernandes when he took possession and released Amad Diallo in space on the right. Milos Kerkez was slow to react, Van Dijk slow to track back and follow Mbeumo’s run while Giorgi Mamardashvili, deputising for the injured Alisson in goal, was easily beaten from the angle.

Slot could justifiably point to his head and ask where the whistle was from Michael Oliver, a referee with whom he has a feisty history, but also question the concentration and communication levels among his defenders. Mbeumo’s strike means Slot’s team have kept only two clean sheets in 12 matches this season, the last coming eight games ago at Burnley.

United carved open Liverpool’s left flank repeatedly in a first half in which Fernandes, Mason Mount and even Gakpo all came close to doubling the visitors’ lead. Releasing Diallo early against Kerkez was clearly part of Amorim’s gameplan. It succeeded time and again in the opening 45 minutes. The £40m summer signing from Bournemouth endured another difficult evening in a Liverpool shirt. Throw-ins were even a problem for Andy Robertson’s chosen successor, who almost put Mbeumo through on goal while making one interception. Kerkez and Van Dijk appear on different wavelengths at present.

“We take a lot of risks,” Slot explained after United’s victory. “After the 62nd minute we had six or seven offensive players on the pitch. That’s maybe why our structure for the set-piece was not as perfect as we usually are. Usually we would have more defensive players on the pitch. Maybe it is a coincidence but it is not an excuse. We know we have to do better.”

Guardian