Liverpool suffered a 2-1 defeat to Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday evening to leave them four points behind leaders Arsenal.
The Reds remain winless in October, with this their fourth loss on the bounce across all competitions.
Bryan Mbeumo put the hosts ahead inside of two minutes, capitalising on an out-of-sorts Liverpool team following a head injury to Alexis Mac Allister. Arne Slot’s side eventually equalised with Cody Gakpo, who hit the woodwork three times during the game, converting a Federico Chiesa cross.
There was a strong sense of deja vu in this game. Gakpo scored the equaliser against Chelsea a fortnight ago, and just as it appeared as though the champions might complete the turnaround late on, they conceded to lose the game.
Fluffed lines cost Liverpool
On the surface, the Reds might feel they were unlucky to lose. The hosts hit the woodwork on three occasions, and both Gakpo and Mohamed Salah missed sitters by their standards on the way to Liverpool racking up an Expected Goals haul of 2.3. Play the same game again, and Slot’s side likely win comfortably.
After the loss to Chelsea, Slot claimed ‘fine margins’ hadn’t been in his team’s favour. The same could be said here. On another day, with a bit of luck, Gakpo could’ve had five goals had the ball bounced favourably. But the problem is Liverpool are relying on luck right now.
Earlier in the campaign, the Premier League champions had been eking out wins when not performing too well. Now the wins have dried up, and performances remain the same. There’s no cohesion. On the one hand, this is to be expected. Liverpool brought in eight new first-teamers during the summer and sold seven. There was a lot of turnover, and the attack was overhauled. Patience was required as the team adapted. But this isn’t exactly tied to that.
Slot isn’t trying to bed in new players. He was initially, but for the last two matches, £100million summer signing Florian Wirtz has started on the bench, and Slot has favoured the tried and tested midfield three of Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch. Hugo Ekitike, the man who started the season in fine form, and Chiesa, arguably the team’s most impactful forward this term, had to settle for a place on the bench for the visit of United, with Slot favouring Gakpo and Salah in attack, either side of Alexander Isak.
The former Feyenoord boss isn’t making bold calls that could go some way to explaining the team’s erratic form. He’s going with players he trusts and they aren’t delivering for various reasons. Reasons he is, at times, responsible for.
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Arne Slot’s identity crisis
Liverpool have no identity this term. It’s been apparent a few times already, but against United it was painfully obvious. With over 30 minutes left to play, Slot had resorted to the ‘in case of emergency, break glass’ option.
Gravenberch, Mac Allister and Conor Bradley were replaced by Ekitike, Wirtz and Curtis Jones. The Reds had Szoboszlai inverting from right-back to form a double pivot of sorts in midfield with Jones. It was a back three of Ibrahima Konate and Milos Kerkez, either side of Virgil van Dijk. In attack, it was chaos. And not even in a good way. It was a front five of Gakpo, Wirtz, Ekitike, Isak and Salah.
The Reds didn’t have a plan. It was just a case of getting as many attacking players onto the pitch as possible in an attempt to turn the game around against an awful Manchester United side. The hosts created chances, with an xG of 2.06 after the break, but it was far from sustainable or repeatable. Slot treated the game like it was the second leg of a Champions League semi-final with 10 minutes left to play. You throw everything at it in the hope of getting something.
That shouldn’t be this team’s attitude in mid-October. He should have a plan on how to break down this Manchester United team. Especially having had two weeks to prepare for it during the international break.
Florian Wirtz’s Liverpool woes continue
It was one of many confusing decisions made by the Liverpool boss.
Just days after saying Wirtz needs to play, he starts the creative attacker on the bench.
“He [Wirtz] has to play, and he’s played a lot,” said Slot. “Because he’s come from a different league and played so many games, it’s quite normal that once in a while he needs a game where he doesn’t play, like I’ve done with Mo Salah and many others. To get the best out of him, it’s of course necessary for him to play, and that’s what he did and what he’s going to do in the upcoming weeks.”
Yet for the second successive matchday, he was named as a substitute. For a second successive matchday, he made an impact off the bench. For the second successive matchday, fans were left wondering why the new No.7 wasn’t named in the starting XI.
Even though Wirtz wasn’t given a set role in the team, given the team was basically playing as a front six for the last 30 minutes, he still caught the eye. He had a part to play in the equaliser, and he linked well with the attack.
Wirtz was signed to be a difference-maker and a match-winner; he can’t be doing that on the bench.
Slot got so much right last season that there’s a lot of credit in the bank, but he’s getting a lot wrong this season. Liverpool, after their summer of spending, are supposed to be in a title race, not a battle for the top four.