As Liverpool's Slot machines malfunction, manager struggling to find fixes or answers

From champs to chumps in the space of a few weeks, a fourth-straight league defeat mortally wounding any hopes of retaining their title, Liverpool are going through the same process Pep Guardiola's men did last autumn. 

HARD TO WATCH: Liverpool manager Arne Slot reacts following the Premier League match at the Gtech Community Stadium, London. Pic: Adam Davy/PA Wire

LIVERPOOL fans should ask Manchester City's supporters how this feels and how it ends.

From champs to chumps in the space of a few weeks, a fourth-straight league defeat mortally wounding any hopes of retaining their title, Liverpool are going through the same process as Pep Guardiola's men did last autumn. 

As reigning champions last season, City won their first four league games and were unbeaten in 13 games until Tottenham beat them a year ago in the Carabao Cup to spark a run of five-successive defeats. They won only one of their 13 games in all competitions between October 30 and December 29, by which time they were out of the title race and struggling to retain a place in the Champions League.

Fast forward a year, and Liverpool are in a similar place. After winning their first seven games, the Reds have now won just one of their past six matches, at Eintracht Frankfurt last Wednesday.

On a dramatic Saturday night fixture at Brentford, however, Slot was outfoxed by Keith Andrews and his team outplayed by the Bees, who thoroughly deserved their victory after showing more spirit, determination, organisation and unity. They had more purpose, desire and were more clinical than the visitors, whose performance was described as one of the worst of the season by Slot.

The Dutchman regularly presented a cheery demeanour at press conferences last season, having led the table pretty well from start to finish in his first season since taking over from Jurgen Klopp.

But recently he looks gloomier, unsurprisingly, and admitted he is struggling to find answers to the questions this Jekyll and Hyde side bring upon themselves.

Why have Liverpool lost four-successive league games? Why are they conceding early and from set pieces so regularly? When will the majority of their summer signings settle in and show why such large fees were paid for them. Which of last season's title-winning side no longer have the look of champions about them? What is the best starting XI, and how should they play? Have opponents found them out, or is there simply a dip in standards after the highs of last season?

The post-match press conference was full of such questions, and Slot said to one reporter: “Quite a few things you were just saying could have something to do with that.

“I've said this many times already, teams definitely have a certain playing style against us, which is a very good strategy to play, and we haven't found that answer yet.” 

It is no secret Brentford work hard on set-pieces and long throws, and Slot said much of Friday's training session and Saturday's pre-match team talk focussed on them. But they looked unprepared when Michael Kayode launched two long throws in the opening five minutes, the second of them ending with a volley from the dangerous Dango Ouattara to put Brentford ahead.

“Going 1-0 down after five minutes doesn't really help,” added Slot. “Teams know which strategy to play against us. Yet even today when we didn't play well, we are still able to score two goals and create more chances.

“But we are not competing up there (at the top of the table) because we simply concede too many goals. I don't only look at our defence because that's something we do with 11 players together.” 

His defenders never looked comfortable against Brentford's fast and physical forwards, and the outstanding midfielder was Mikkel Damsgaard, signed for €15m from Sampdoria three years ago, barely one-eighth of the fee Slot paid for Florian Wirtz, who was again underwhelming and missed a sitter in the 20th minute.

Damsgaard is a slight-looking figure, like Wirtz, but the Brentford man was head and shoulders above the German as he forced two superb saves from Giorgi Mamardashvili and provided a superb pass to set up Kevin Schade for Brentford's second goal.

Milos Kerkez had another poor game defensively, but at least scored his first goal since moving from Bournemouth in the summer, to make it 2-1 at half-time.

Brentford dominated the period after half-time and it was no surprise they increased their lead through an Igor Thiago penalty on the hour mark. Mohamed Salah's late goal set up a frantic finale during ten minutes of stoppage time, but Liverpool could not find an equaliser.

Slot expected some turbulence after the club's busy transfer activity, but admitted the current run has taken him by surprise. 

“If you change quite a lot during the summer, then I think it's not a surprise that it can go a bit like this (up and down), but I didn't expect it to go with four losses in a row, let that be clear. It's always a bit of a bumpy road if you change, but four losses in a row?

Much credit must go, however to Brentford, who lost their manager, captain and two top scorers to bigger clubs in the summer. Andrews was a surprise appointment after Thomas Frank left for Tottenham, but the Dubliner has made Brentford hard to beat, and talked afterwards in glowing terms about “this special club, and great group of players. Their desire, resilience, character, how they react to different situations, how sharp and strong they look, and now we've beaten the Premier League Champions.”