Arne Slot\u2019s second season at Liverpool has stumbled into a severe patch. The side have lost five of six matches and suffered four successive Premier League defeats. Performances have been described as unacceptable and complacent, and Slot faces growing pressure to arrest the slide before an early wobble damages the campaign.<\/p>\n
First, the defence must be stabilised. Liverpool have kept just two clean sheets in all competitions this season and only five since March. Contributing factors cited include Alisson\u2019s hamstring injury, Ibrahima Konat\u00e9\u2019s implosion, uncertainty at full back and a lack of depth at centre back. The Reds have been repeatedly punished by teams that attack quickly on the counter, notably in recent losses to Manchester United and Brentford. Slot\u2019s more attacking full backs and an offence-first strategy have left the rear exposed, after a season when Liverpool kept more clean sheets than any other side.<\/p>\n
Second, midfield protection has declined. Ryan Gravenberch earned plaudits last season, but Liverpool still relied on Alexis Mac Allister to control tempo. Mac Allister is praised as a masterful conductor who screens the back four, bites into tackles and seldom surrenders possession. This term he has struggled through injury, a lack of match fitness and inconsistent form. He has appeared in 12 matches in all competitions but has lasted over 70 minutes only twice. With Gravenberch also hampered by injury, a pivot of Curtis Jones and Dominik Szoboszlai has not provided the protection required.<\/p>\n
Third, Mohamed Salah must regain his highest standards. Salah produced a career-high 23 assists and 34 goals in 2024\u201325 and was named the 2024\u201325 Premier League Player of the Season. He signed a new two-year contract, yet his form has dipped to seven goal contributions so far, with errant touches, predictable distribution and five big missed chances in the league.<\/p>\n
Finally, the summer recruitment needs to deliver. Liverpool spent a record sum, with over \u00a3200 million on Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak alone. Of the new arrivals, only Hugo Ekitik\u00e9 has met expectations. Wirtz, Isak, Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong have struggled for various reasons: injuries for Frimpong, erratic full back play from Kerkez, Isak regaining fitness after missing pre-season, and Wirtz adapting to the Premier League\u2019s speed and physicality. Slot requires better returns from his recruits as he seeks to stop the run.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Slot faces four urgent tasks: shore up defence, restore midfield control, revive Salah, fix signings<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4116,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175,172,1163],"tags":[1023,299,1100],"class_list":["post-4117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liverpool","category-epl","category-transfers","tag-alexis-mac-allister","tag-arne-slot","tag-defence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}