Liverpool are not right. We can say that safely now.
A month ago, Daily Mail Sport wrote that the champions had several problems but it did seem a little premature, given they had won every single game at that point.
They went on to make it seven from seven to start the season and Premier League title rivals were fearing the worst before summer was even over.
But as we said then, performances were not up to scratch and they needed last-gasp winning goals in all four of their first league games, with strikes coming in minutes 88, 100, 83 and 95.
You make your own luck in football so it felt wrong to say they had seemingly done a deal with the devil, but at least some of those dramatic scenes papered over cracks of a shaky start to their title defence.
Now after defeats and dismal displays at Crystal Palace and Galatasaray, Arne Slot has been left scratching his head wondering what is up with his team. Here are five big questions he might have been asking himself on the flight back from Turkey…
For only the second time as Liverpool manager, Arne Slot must react to back-to-back defeats
Liverpool have not been at their best all season, and yet sit top of the Premier League – but what are the cracks being papered over?
Why are the new signings not settling?
Of Liverpool’s £446million outlay and long list of signings this summer, how many have lived up to their billing?
Hugo Ekitike, the top scorer, is the only one who has done so consistently — and even that comes with a pathetic red card against Southampton and a new worry after he limped off injured in Istanbul on Tuesday.
Alexander Isak looks miles off the pace in terms of fitness, managing just four touches off the bench at Galatasaray. That was largely to be expected given the £125m man’s lack of football and pre-season training before his move, but his road to peak condition might be longer than originally envisaged.
The new full backs, Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez, have been inconsistent while £116m Florian Wirtz has not reached anywhere near the sky-high levels he set for Bayer Leverkusen and Germany in the last three years.
It’s worth mentioning that by the numbers, he is having a better start than the eye test might suggest – he has created 21 chances in all competitions, the most of any Premier League player this season, but he still lacks that cutting edge.
Patience is a virtue, of course, and the prospect of the new boys clicking is still frightening for rivals — but it has not happened yet. With games coming thick and fast, not least a trip to Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening, there is little time for Slot to get his methods across due to a lack of real training sessions.
Hugo Ekitike is one of few Liverpool signings to have hit the ground running this season – but now he is sweating on a potential injury
Has Wirtz disrupted the team’s balance?
Yes. Wirtz is a superb footballer, described by Slot as ‘an artist with a mean streak’ and the German has demonstrated that in glimpses during his time on these shores.
But when you cost £116m, glimpses are not good enough and the scrutiny is ramped up. Rival fans poked fun last week with ‘007’ jibes (zero goals, zero assists, seven games) and Jamie Carragher has called for Wirtz to be dropped for the trip to Chelsea.
The main worry for Wirtz and Slot, though, is not the time it is taking for him to get up to speed and gel with new team-mates — it is the fact the whole midfield looks worse off for his inclusion.
Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai have been the Reds’ two standout outfielders this season but, tactically, the midfield is not functioning as a unit and Alexis Mac Allister, Mr Consistent last year, has seen his form drop off a cliff, perhaps owing to a niggly injury that has been bothering him since March. Szoboszlai has also been forced to learn a new position to handle absences at right back.
Wirtz was the heartbeat of the team in pre-season but he is now seeing games pass him by, not for the want of trying, and Mohamed Salah has not got his creative juices properly flowing just yet.
Florian Wirtz was the heartbeat of the team in pre-season but he is now seeing games pass him by
Is Konate’s head in Madrid?
All of the aforementioned worries are arguably down to fitness and should be remedied easily when the team are up to speed again. But defensively, the anxieties run deeper.
The team have kept just two clean sheets this season compared to six at the same stage of last year and they are leaking chances at will — Alisson has had an inspired week to bail his defenders out but he is now injured and will not be fit for Chelsea.
Ibrahima Konate is the chief culprit, though not the only one. The Frenchman was quick to call out fans online for criticising him and, while some takes were overreactions, it is fair to say he has been poor.
Both of the online posts he replied to mentioned how Real Madrid have shown an interest in signing the out-of-contract defender on a free transfer next summer but he ignored that element of them.
Why? It makes fans worry he is destined for Real Madrid with his future still uncertain despite talks over a new deal being ongoing since last November.
Because of this, he is cut less slack in the fanbase and Joe Gomez may now be considered for a run in the team if Konate’s poor form continues. Kerkez has made some errors, too, while Virgil van Dijk has seen a slight dip in form.
Set-pieces are an issue, too, with four conceded. Only West Ham have let in more from such situations, with some teams turning to long throws as a weapon to fluster Liverpool.
Contrast this to Arsenal and their near-mythical guru Nicolas Jover and the difference is stark. While the Gunners won the game at Newcastle with two from Jover’s playbook, the Reds were undone by two at Crystal Palace.
Ibrahima Konate looks a shadow of his former self, with rumours swirling about a potential free transfer to Real Madrid next summer
…and do they miss Real star Alexander-Arnold?
It is the awkward question that we knew we would need to answer. Trent Alexander-Arnold is missed, no matter what fans may say about the local lad who left for Real Madrid.
His exit has altered the balance of the team and his unorthodox creativity is something we maybe took for granted.
With more traditional full backs in Frimpong, Conor Bradley and Kerkez, Liverpool’s build-up routines are different and there is the argument that Salah is worse without his good mate Alexander-Arnold.
Luis Diaz, who scored 17 goals last season, is also missed, especially when Cody Gakpo has struggled for consistency. The depth in wide areas is not what it was with Slot seemingly not trusting Federico Chiesa and 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha still a young star breaking through, not one to be relied on.
Milos Kerkez has yet to find his feet at Anfield since joining from Bournemouth this summer
Is Salah’s form a problem?
It’s not a major worry, but it certainly is an issue.
The Egyptian talisman has not hit the heights since he signed his new contract in March, ending that long saga. With 34 goals and 23 assists, he put in one of the finest campaigns we have seen in modern history.
But dig beyond that and you find he scored in just three of the final 11 league fixtures last year, and has only managed three in nine this season. Again, not necessarily terrible form but certainly not near his best.
Liverpool’s talisman Mohamed Salah has not hit the heights of last season since he signed his new contract in March
Salah is 33 and still the main man for Slot despite the fact this week he did not start a Premier League or Champions League game that mattered — excluding dead rubbers when leagues were already won — for the first time since a fallout with Jurgen Klopp in April 2024.
Even though he has been off the boil, he was sorely missed in Istanbul until his introduction and, given there is an Africa Cup of Nations tournament at the turn of the year that will see him miss several Reds games, it is a cause for concern.
With Liverpool’s system slightly altered to accommodate an out-and-out traditional No 9 (last season it was mainly Diaz playing slightly out of position), plus the fact Wirtz is taking up similar positions, Salah is not the sole creative fulcrum of the team any more and others are getting in his way, also including the more traditional right back in lieu of Alexander-Arnold.
Plenty to ponder for Slot as he heads for Stamford Bridge looking to avoid making it three defeats in a row for the first time as Liverpool boss.
