Liverpool analysis: Five reasons why the wheel has fallen off for Arne Slot’s Reds

Liverpool’s 3-0 loss to Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup on the night of Wednesday, October 29, continued their poor run of form to make it six losses out of their last seven games.

The Reds fielded an unusual starting line-up for their match against Palace, with five of their players featuring from the academy or making their senior debut. 

Big players such as Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah, Hugo Ekitike, Dominik Szoboszlai and Florian Wirtz were all rested from the squad.

Liverpool weren’t able to carry the momentum gained from their UEFA Champions League 5-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt into the Brentford game on Saturday, October 25, as they were comfortably beaten at the G-Tech 3-1, mounting pressure on the club’s hopes of retaining the Premier League.

Sports News Blitz writer Will Thomas explores what’s going wrong for the Reds.

Starting off slow

In all four of their Premier League defeats this season, Liverpool have conceded in the opening 15 minutes, putting the team on the back foot and giving the opposition something to protect.

In the last two Premier League games against Brentford and Manchester United, Liverpool have conceded in the first five minutes.

This allowed both teams to sit deep, defend their lead and force Liverpool to push more players forward so they can break on the counterattack in a quick turnaround.

Moving forward, if Liverpool are to regain some form of sustainability and resurrect their Premier League hopes, they will have to control the ball better in the opening minutes and build possession to ease the existing pressure on the team.

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Defensive vulnerability

Liverpool have looked extremely vulnerable in the defence this season, conceding an extreme number of chances in each game.

The team have already leaked 14 goals this season, nine more than this time last season.

The Reds have found themselves prone to losing the ball high up the pitch, with teams allowed to build a quick counterattack against Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk, who are left vulnerable at the back.

This was shown in the opening game of the season and the last game against Brentford when the Bees doubled their lead.

Moving forward, Liverpool have to find some form of sustainability in the defence.

This may mean Arne Slot has to drop Ryan Gravenberch deeper into a more defensively inclined role or swap both Conor Bradley and Milos Kerkez for fullbacks who will focus more on protecting the defence, such as Joe Gomez and Andrew Robertson.

Lack of team cohesion

Liverpool have signed seven players this summer transfer window to fill the void of huge departures within the team, such as Luis Diaz and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

This has caused Slot to massively change the structure and shape of the team in attacking and defensive positions.

This can be seen from Mohamed Salah’s performances, as the Egyptian has been hampered since the departure of Alexander-Arnold.

The creativity has been shifted from the right-hand side to the central areas of the pitch for new signing Florian Wirtz to fill the void.

In an attempt to find a balance and a system which can suit key signings like Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, and Alexander Isak, Slot has found himself rotating the team in each game, which has created a lack of cohesion amongst the players in the team.

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Set piece difficulty

It is evident that this Liverpool team are struggling with set pieces and long balls from the back as the league has increasingly become more physical and set-piece orientated this season.

This season, Premier League teams have been seen to heavily use set pieces to create goalscoring chances.

Long throw-ins have been reintroduced, and corners have been more efficiently utilised, something Liverpool have struggled with.

Liverpool have conceded seven goals from set pieces this season, the second lowest total behind West Ham and Nottingham Forest, who have conceded ten.

Lack of midfield protection

This season, Liverpool’s midfield structure has become more attacking-oriented, which has left the back four vulnerable.

With Wirtz occupying the attacking midfield and Alexis Mac Allister or Szoboszlai behind with Gravenberch next to them, it has completely changed the defensive fluidity in midfield.

It can be seen that Gravenberch, who sat in front of the back four last season, has been allowed more freedom going forward, as the Dutchman has already scored two goals this season.

However, in doing this, it has left the Reds vulnerable to fast turnarounds in the centre of the pitch to attack on the back four.

If Slot drops Gravenberch into a deeper midfield role, as he occupied last season, it would certainly protect the team and the defence from quick counterattacks from the opposition.

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