Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday marks the worst run of Arne Slot’s managerial career and the club’s worst sequence of results since 2014, when Brendan Rodgers was in charge.
It was the fourth straight defeat Liverpool have suffered across all competitions, and by far the most painful. United had not won on Merseyside since 2016, but an early goal by Bryan Mbeumo silenced the Anfield roar before most locals had even cleared their throats.
Mbeumo’s strike set the tone for an afternoon of frustration for Liverpool. Cody Gakpo went on to hit the woodwork three times, and although his persistence finally paid off 12 minutes from time, when he scored a deserved equaliser, United defender Harry Maguire nodded home six minutes later to seal the points for the visitors.
The defeat leaves Liverpool four points off the pace at the top of the table, with doubts growing about the ability of Slot’s side to defend the title they won at a canter last season. Here, we consider some of the key issues the Dutchman must address.
Arne Slot must take Milos Kerkez out of the firing line
The Main Stand is not noted for being the noisiest part of Anfield. That distinction belongs, of course, to the Kop, from which the rest of the stadium takes its lead – although not against Manchester United on Sunday, when Bryan Mbeumo’s second-minute opener was an instant atmosphere killer. There was plenty of noise among many Main Stand regulars when Milos Kerkez passed by, however, with the left-back’s palpable uncertainty on the ball and reluctance to push forward a source of increasing frustration as the first half wore on.
Time and again, the 21-year-old Hungary international gathered the ball on the left flank, promising to bomb up the pitch, only to turn on his heel and pass square or backwards. The former Bournemouth man’s timidity inevitably drew unfavourable comparisons with Andy Robertson, the man he has replaced, and while Kerkez played with greater freedom after the break, repeatedly breaking down the left at speed, his inability to cap those runs with an incisive pass or cross did nothing to quieten the clamour for the Scotland captain’s introduction.
The call never came for Robertson. The 31-year-old has started just twice this season, against Atlético Madrid in the Champions League and Southampton in the League Cup, while two of his three substitute appearances in the Premier League have followed Kerkez bookings, underlining the Scot’s newfound role as an understudy. Yet if Kerkez continues in current vein, will Liverpool manager Arne Slot be able to ignore the growing clamour for Robertson’s reintroduction? Gary Neville has likened the Serb to “a youth-team player” on his eponymous podcast, while former Liverpool full-back Steve Nicol has likewise been vocal in his criticism.
“Kerkez looks out of his depth,” Nicol said this weekend in his role as a pundit for ESPN. “[The defence] is not functioning with the ball because, when [Liverpool] are coming out, every man and his dog doesn’t want to pass the ball to Kerkez. You’ve lost the left-hand side of your attack before you even start.”
After winning the Premier League title in his first season, Slot has more than enough credit in the bank to insulate him from criticism, but Kerkez is a young player clearly struggling to make the step up to a bigger club. With the left-back position an increasing source of concern for Liverpool, and a more experienced alternative on the bench, Robertson’s absence is becoming increasingly hard to fathom.
Is chemistry the key to fixing Liverpool’s faltering defence?
Much has been made of Liverpool’s defensive woes, not least by Slot himself. He has repeatedly bemoaned his side’s inability to defend set-pieces effectively, and that frailty once again reared its head against United, with Liverpool’s failure to clear a corner allowing Bruno Fernandes to cross for Harry Maguire’s winner.
Yet if the champions appear a shadow of the side that conceded the second-fewest goals in the league last season, it is perhaps unsurprising, given how much has changed. Familiarity breeds content in a back four, but Robertson’s demotion and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s summer departure for Real Madrid have pulled the rug out from beneath the central-defensive pairing of Ibrahima Konaté and Virgil van Dijk. leaving both facing unaccustomed challenges.
On the left, Kerkez’s struggles have demanded more of Van Dijk, forcing the big Dutchman to anticipate and cover to a degree that was never necessary with the more experienced Robertson at his side. Konaté, meanwhile, lacking rhythm and form himself, has not been helped by a revolving cast at right-back, where summer signing Jeremie Frimpong, Wataru Endo, Conor Bradly and Dominik Szoboszlai have all featured this season.
The lack of a consistent, dependable back-line has not only undermined Liverpool’s defensive efforts this season, but also created a lack of chemistry going forward.
Much has been made of Mohamed Salah’s unusually subdued start to the campaign, but it should be acknowledged that the Egyptian maestro is still adapting to life without Alexander-Arnold. Having thrived on the range and accuracy of the departed full-back’s passing, Salah now faces a similar challenge to Konaté. Alexander-Arnold instinctively knew where to find the 33-year-old, and also became adept at compensating for the 33-year-old’s reluctance to track back. The chopping and changing behind Salah has made it difficult for him to develop such chemistry this term.
Robertson’s absence has been felt equally keenly on the left, where the Scot’s ability to carry the ball deep into opposition territory and forge effective partnerships with the likes of Sadio Mané, Cody Gakpo and Luis Díaz has been instrumental to Liverpool’s success in recent years.
At a time when Slot is still figuring out the best way to accommodate summer signings Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz alongside Salah and Gakpo, Liverpool’s issues at full-back have had repercussions at both ends of the pitch. Reintroducing Robertson to the team and sticking with either Bradley or Frimpong at right-back would go a long way to restoring the side’s balance.
Arne Slot’s Alexander Isak conundrum
It is not easy to hide at Anfield as Liverpool’s No 9, much less so when you are the most expensive signing in club history. Yet for 72 minutes against Manchester United, Alexander Isak was virtually anonymous.
What might have been his most memorable moment, which came on 35 minutes when Konaté broke the lines with a perfectly weighted pass to leave the Sweden international one-on-one with United goalkeeper Senne Lammens, instead became instantly forgettable. Isak did not have to break stride to get on the ball, and as he accelerated past Luke Shaw, he only needed to lift the ball over Lammens to give his Liverpool career lift-off.
It was the kind of opportunity Isak would have tucked away in his sleep for Newcastle, but the 26-year-old is not that player just now. The charitable view would be that he at least registered his first shot on target in the Premier League for his new club. But as Slot suggested before the match, the time for understanding is over. “We can judge him in a fair way now,” he said of Isak, whose efforts to engineer his way out of Newcastle denied him a proper pre-season. “I think I can safely say he is 100% now.”
That being the case, Isak should have scored. That he did not, instead seeing his low effort blocked by Lammens’ right boot, is obvious cause for concern. Liverpool paid £125m for the Swede to be the difference-maker at such moments; if his problems are no longer down to fitness, it is legitimate to ask what is holding him back.
One possibility is that the hangover from his summer move has become more mental than physical. Having secured his dream move, Isak should be living his best life; instead, he does not even look like he is enjoying his football. The weight of expectation can do that to a player. But so too can ending a fruitful relationship on a sour note. Eddie Howe admitted his relationship with the striker changed when he downed tools to force through his transfer, but the damage was not limited to the Newcastle manager and his coaching staff. The manner of Isak’s departure alienated a dressing room and a city, tainting his legacy as a key figure in the club’s first major domestic trophy win since 1969, which came when he scored the winner in the League Cup final against Liverpool earlier this year. That is a lot to carry around at a time when you are trying to adapt to the demands of a new club.
Restoring Isak to his former self promises to be a significant test of Slot’s man-management skills. Far from being the main man, as he was at St James’ Park, the Swede has walked into a dressing room of stars headlined by Salah, whose own current travails in front of goal are offset by last season’s record-equalling haul of 47 goal involvements. He has lost the aura of certainty that attended his best work in a Newcastle shirt, and it will not help that, in terms of key contributions he has been outshone this season by the likes of Federico Chiesa, 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha and Szoboszlai – and that is before we even get to fellow summer signing Ekitike…
Electric Ekitike deserves to start
When Ekitike came on for Alexis Mac Allister just after the hour mark, the France international made an instant impact. With virtually his first action, the striker electrified a becalmed stadium, darting in from the left to fire an effort over. The chants of his name had barely subsided before Ekitike performed an encore, capping a similar move by sending a skidding shot narrowly wide of Lammens’ far post. Ekitike’s dynamism instantly turned doubters into believers, rekindling optimism in the stands that Liverpool might, after all, find a way back into the contest.
That belief was well founded. With five goals since his summer arrival from Eintracht Frankfurt, including three in his first three games, Ekitike has been the man most likely for Liverpool in the early weeks of the season. The 23-year-old was again instrumental against United, another buccaneering run creating mayhem in the opposition box to pave the way for Gakpo’s equaliser. In barely 20 minutes, Ekitike offered more than Isak had managed in more than three times as long. The case for his inclusion in the starting line-up becomes more compelling with each Liverpool defeat.
Arne Slot needs Alexis Mac Allister fit and firing
Alexis Mac Allister has been brilliant for Liverpool since signing from Brighton two summers ago. The Argentina international’s midfield partnership with Ryan Gravenberch was a key component in last season’s title triumph, with his quality on the ball – and tenacity without it – fundamental to Liverpool’s much remarked upon ability to control games. It did no harm that he also chipped in with seven goals. But Mac Allister has not looked fully fit for months. The 26-year-old was absent with an undisclosed injury for both club and country in the final weeks of last season. He went on to miss the start of pre-season, and has yet to complete 90 minutes in the Premier League this term. Bringing Mac Allister back to full health and optimal form would be a major boost for Liverpool.
