Last night’s home draw against Sunderland was a true microcosm of all the issues plaguing Slot’s Reds.
Jamie Carragher said it right when referring to last night’s 1-1 draw with Sunderland as a step backwards. Liverpool currently sit eighth in the Premier League standings (and United have a game in hand just behind them).
They are probably the least convincing defending champions since Mourinho’s Chelsea back in 2015/2016 (that was the year that Mourinho verbally abused Eva Carneiro, and we all know how that movie played out).
Since securing the title with a rousing 5-1 against Spurs in April, Liverpool have accumulated a measly 23 points in 18 games. More disturbingly, they have won just three of their last 14 matches in all competitions (the type of stat that Ruben Amorim has been derided for these past 18 months).
Missing Trent
Trent Alexader-Arnold hasn’t enjoyed the easiest transition to life at the Bernabeu (he got roundly booed when returning to Anfield earlier this season). But there is simply no denying how much they miss the virtuosic, mercurial Englishman.
And I’m not even necessarily talking about his prodigious gifts going forward. I’m talking about defensively. I have always been of the belief that Alexander Arnold’s defensive frailties were consistently overblown.
Sure, Trent was never a defender blessed with outstanding positional awareness. But his recovery pace was excellent, and he was a more-than-adequate one-on-one defender. I think the area where they really miss him is in his distribution from the back.
Look at the way that Van Djik cheaply gave away possession of the ball leading up to Sunderland’s opener. His hurried thinking was indicative of a side lacking confidence in defensive possession.
Previously, you could just give Trent the ball and he would launch a pressure-reducing diagonal. Joe Gomez and Connor Bradley aren’t going to be doing that. Speaking of Gomez, he is a strong right-back who is being asked to do wingback things.
There’s just a fundamental square-peg, round-hole thing going on right now, as Slot desperately tries to figure out his best 11.
Toothless Attack
I know that Salah is catching a lot of flak from certain segments of the Liverpool support, and rightly so. I just think that Liverpool fans are too quick to suggest the nuclear option for Salah. I also think he is being used as a convenient scapegoat for the major elephant in the room: Alexander Isak.
He scored against a leaky West Ham side this past weekend but has been mostly anonymous, dropping stinker after stinker since his big-money move.
At Newcastle, he often struck on the counterattack, using his impressive speed to exploit acres of speed. He just doesn’t seem adept at unlocking resilient defences.
Florian Wirtz was a shining light last night, showing off the level of technical mastery that we had become accustomed to at Leverkusen. I said it a few weeks ago: this Liverpool side must be designed around the kinetic German superstar.
He got a bit unlucky last night, after having what he thought was his first Liverpool goal chalked off as an OG. But just look at the mesmeric footwork that led to that moment.
He just needs a few more technically like-minded players in and around him (they need a Pedri type who can tune into his radio frequency).
Not fighting for Slot
The thing that disturbed me most about last night’s performance was Liverpool’s genuine lack of fight. This is the one metric that makes me fear for Slot the most (a lack of fight for the club usually means a lack of belief in the manager).
Gomez- usually a warrior in physical confrontations- lost eight of his nine duels last night! Salah lost all four of his second-half duels while Szoboszlai- roundly embraced as Liverpool’s most aggressive ball-winner- only won one of five ground duels.
These are damning stats that point to something more disturbing than poor form or tactical inefficiency: they point to laziness.
Liverpool travel to Leeds this weekend, who are fresh off a potentially season-defining 3-1 win over in-form Chelsea. Daniel Farke’s side will be tenacious in front of their home fans, and Dominic Calvert-Lewin will provide a clear and present danger up front. Lose this game, and all those voices calling for Slot’s head will grow a little louder (and more numerous).
