Four key issues affecting Liverpool during dismal run
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah during a training session at the AXA Training Centre on Tuesday. Pic: Peter Byrne/PA Wire.
I made my way to my seat, or at least my perch to stand, on The Kop about 10 minutes before kick-off on Sunday.
The atmosphere was building nicely ahead of the game; the buzz was growing as Liverpool looked to end a run of three losses in a row with their arch rivals in town.
The teams were soon roared onto the pitch; You’ll Never Walk Alone was sung as loudly as ever and then came kick-off. Then 90 seconds later and Liverpool were a goal down. A nightmare starts at a time they really needed to make a positive one.
The goal probably summed up the Champions’ season up so far. A little unlucky, but mainly too many players just off it and too many mistakes.
Anyway, here is a look at just four of the key issues affecting Liverpool at the moment.
Forgive me, Mo. His legendary status at Liverpool is well and truly secured regardless of what happens between now and when he finally leaves the club.
He had enough credit in the bank as well from last season in which he won the PFA Player of the Year award and, for a while, was one of the favourites to land the Ballon d’Or to be given time to put his difficult start to this season right.
But he has been allowed by Arne Slot, given he is now 33, to do less tracking back to enable him to remain sharp for when he’s on the ball close to goal.
But unlike last season, he’s just not producing the numbers so maybe it's time he comes out of the starting 11 until he shows he can.
Forgive me, Alexis. And to be fair, this list could just be four of the players who are underperforming massively this season compared to last season.
But in Salah and also MacAllister, two of Liverpool's best players last season, two of Liverpool’s most important players, are struggling the most. It was noticeable how once the Reds won the league against Spurs back in April, the Argentina World Cup winner was effectively taken straight out of the team to begin the process of overcoming his niggling injury.
But he has had enough time now to have recovered for that issue and to have regained rhythm, but he still looks far from his best in an area of the pitch Liverpool do have other options.
Arne Slot spoke about Liverpool’s set piece woes in the lead-up to the Manchester United match.
Firstly, he was critical of the lack of goals they score from dead-ball situations. “The second part of last season we scored seven very, very, very important set-piece goals where we are now on zero from seven games,” he said.
And secondly, he was critical of the number of goals they are conceding from corners or free-kicks.
"Open play. That is something positive to take but what is not positive is that we have conceded nine goals, four from set-pieces."
That is now five following Harry Maguire’s winner on Sunday, and the goals scored from such attacks remains at zero. Arsenal, the league leaders, are often overly criticised for their reliance on set-pieces (although sometimes it’s justified) but there is no doubting the importance on being good at them in both boxes, which Liverpool aren't.
This time last year it was being said that Arne Slot had the impossible job in following on from what Jurgen Klopp achieved. But at the moment, it seems that Slot is having difficulty following on from his own achievements.
A Premier League winner in his first season, it was as if the Dutchman could do no wrong and after spending close to ÂŁ450million on players to shape the team in his own image after only signing Chiesa in the summer he took over from Klopp, it seemed like the Reds should be even better this term.
That hasn’t been the case, yet, and while he, and the squad, have had to deal with the tragic loss of Diogo Jota, his team selection and substitutes, which he normally got right last campaign, have been highly questionable as he struggles to bed in his new stars.
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