Liverpool’s downward spiral hasn’t shown signs of stopping. The Reds have now lost four of their last six games at Anfield after losing 4-1 to PSV on Wednesday in Champions League league phase play. Heading into Thanksgiving, the Reds are not only in the bottom half of the Premier League behind their rivals Everton, but they’re also dropping down the UCL table as the hand has to be approaching the panic button.
All hope isn’t lost as the Reds will end Matchday 5 in 12th in the Champions League league phase, but pressure is growing on Arne Slot. He has a bit of a leash after winning the Premier League last season, but time waits for no one, especially when the managerial crop this coming summer could include names like Thomas Tuchel, Julian Nagelsmann, and Mauricio Pochettino after the World Cup is complete.
Despite taking 27 shots and putting nine on target, it never felt like Liverpool were in the game after Ivan Perisic’s penalty went in in the sixth minute of play. Once the Reds fall behind, it used to feel inevitable that they’d come back with four match winners coming after the 90th minute of play this season, but getting in that situation week after week can break a team. It seems like time is catching up to Mohamed Salah, and the attack has failed to find its balance while the defense has struggled.
This season, Liverpool have already allowed an xG of at least 2.0 three times in all competitions, losing all of those matches. Last season, in 56 matches played, they only allowed an xG of that level five times, losing three and drawing two. Slot’s had to deal with injuries to key players like Allison, but last season’s Liverpool were a big red machine, and that hasn’t been the case following a summer of exorbitant spending, which included key attacking signings like Hugo Ekitike, Florian Wirtz, and Alexander Isak.
The trio have had their moments, but it still hasn’t been good enough for Liverpool to follow up on their success and season two under Slot is coming with some of the pitfalls that were expected in replacing Jurgen Klopp in his first season in charge. The Reds haven’t responded well to adversity, and they don’t have much time to turn things around this season.
Already 11 points behind Arsenal, only 12 matches into the season, any hopes of retaining the Premier League title are all but gone, and while there have been highs, such as defeating Real Madrid 1-0 in the Champions League, without a repeatable system, there’s no way that they’ll be able to win this competition either.
It’d be one thing if these performances were happening every once in a while, but when it’s week after week after week, that’s when concern grows, and CBS Sports analyst and former Liverpool player Jamie Carragher is concerned about the future of the club.
“I think what you see now is that Liverpool in 2018 under Klopp starts this sort of DNA of being a great team, and then slot comes in, and what are we seven or eight years later? The catalyst for Liverpool at the very start of that run was Alisson, [Virgil] Van Dijk, and Salah. Alisson’s been injured a lot now, so he doesn’t play so much. When you’re watching Van Dijk now, he’s not the same player, and Mo Salah looks like his legs have gone,” Carragher said. “I don’t like criticizing them and I think some of the criticism of them this season as players has been harsh. You always look for your leaders in your team to step up when things aren’t going well.”
“Now, I’ve been critical of Mo Salah off the pitch. I want him to come out and do an interview tonight and speak to the Liverpool players about what the players are going to do, what’s going on in the dressing room, giving the supporters hope that things are going to improve but I don’t like criticizing them on the pitch because they’re absolute legendary, what they’ve done and the legs have just gone, especially with Salah,” Carragher continued. “Van Dijk now can’t help other players. He needs help himself and that just means he’s a normal center back like I was at one stage. Maybe he’s not superhuman now but they’ve been that good for the football club. I look at some of the others — step up. Can you only play well when they play well? Their seasons last season were off the scale, and everybody else enjoyed that, winning the league and they’re all league champions and they’ve got it on the CV and great but when they’re not there, where are they? Where are the others?”
When looking at Liverpool’s signings, this is a tough question to answer. Curtis Jones came out after the match saying that the team needs to fight more and be dogs out there, but when that’s not how they’ve played under Slot, it’s hard to do that overnight. The heavy metal football was toned down to something more pragmatic and with that, Liverpool have struggled to respond to adversity like what has come this season. If a response doesn’t come soon, more change could be on the way because the Premier League operates on what a manager has done for a team lately, not how their entire career has progressed.
