How far will Liverpool continue to fall? While everything was going well at the start of the season marked by a transfer window worth 500 million euros with the arrivals of Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Milos Kerkez and even Jeremie Frimpong, the English club is in a catastrophic dynamic. Despite a good start to the season which allowed them to start at the top of the Premier League, the Reds have just suffered three defeats in the league against Crystal Palace (2-1), Chelsea (2-1) and Manchester United (2-1) as well as a 1-0 setback in the Champions League against Galatasaray.
Now fourth, four points behind leader Arsenal and one point behind runner-up Manchester City, Liverpool will have to pull themselves together to avoid losing ground in the title race. In addition, some players are struggling at the start of the season like rookie Alexander Isak who only scored in the Cup but remained silent in the Premier League and the Champions League. Arriving this summer, Florian Wirtz, Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong are also struggling to show their best side when the star of this team Mohamed Salah (3 goals and 3 assists in 11 matches) is still far from the mark.
A call to sacred union by Van Dijk
This was felt again this Sunday during a “Derby of England” against rival Manchester United where the Reds lost 2-1. Ineffective, fragile defensively and mentally, Arne Slot's players once again came up against a well-established opponent and were unable to put an end to their terrible dynamic. A crisis which continues for a team which has just had an eighth match out of twelve with at least two goals conceded since the start of the season. No Premier League club has experienced such fragility.
“We lost again. We created chances, we could have won. But the reality is that we lost. We pushed things too hard today. We were constantly in a hurry. I'm not going to talk about whether the referee should have stopped the game on their first goal. We've been through tougher times than this. It's an interesting time because we have to stay together, not just us as players, but as a club and the supporters who want us to win. We must remain humble, persevere and maintain confidence as much as possible. In difficult times, it is important to stand together. The season is long.“, declared captain Virgil van Dijk who is already riveted on the match against Frankfurt in the Champions League scheduled for this Wednesday.
Consultants are worried, Slot is frustrated
The English consultants have another speech and are surprised by the lack of reaction from the Reds given the context. “I have never felt such calm in Liverpool. Four defeats is a big blow, and we wouldn't have seen it coming. All the new players seemed like good signings, but now there are more questions than answers» said former Reds midfielder Jamie Redknapp. For his part, Manchester United legend Roy Keane took a dig at Virgil van Dijk: “always start by looking in the mirror. Van Dijk, if you are a central defender and your team suddenly concedes a lot of goals, and new players come to your club, you have to look at yourself carefully and ask yourself: “Am I really helping people?” although Liverpool would do the job. Negligence in decision-making costs them dearly.»
At the head of the critics, coach Arne Slot knows that he will be singled out as his leaders and defended Mohamed Salah: “After games like this, it's only natural for people to focus on individual players. In the first five or six games it was mainly about our recruitments, now it's about Mo Salah. We had plenty of chances to score. Mo missed a crucial opportunity. Others missed big opportunities. We're not used to that.» The Dutch coach appeared without a solution after the match and even criticized the refereeing: “It's always difficult to play against a team that defends low and mainly plays deep. It's even more difficult when we are behind after a minute of play while one of our players is down. If someone had told me before the match that facing the low block and so many long balls, we would have created so many chances, I would not have expected a defeat. But that's what we did. We had enough chances to score more than one goal, but on the other hand, we conceded two, including one from a set piece.» Clearly, the period is very complicated for Liverpool.
