Go back a year and Liverpool were in the middle of a run of eight straight victories, near the start of a spell of 15 victories and a draw in 16. Arne Slot’s every decision seemed to pay off. He was prospering by not buying. He proved ideally suited to Jurgen Klopp’s players.
Twelve months on, the struggle is to adjust to his own. Winning without spending back then, he is losing after paying record sums now. Slot has gone from eight consecutive victories to four defeats in a row. It is uncharted territory: for him personally, and for Liverpool in the decade since Klopp’s appointment.
Slot’s honeymoon period included a demolition of Manchester United. His worst run so far culminated in an Anfield loss to them. Liverpool can sense a rapid shift in fortunes. “We are coming from a season where everything was unbelievable,” noted Virgil van Dijk. Now this stretches credibility. At the least, they have offered belated vindication for Klopp: he long railed at the notion that the transfer market was the answer to everything. Now Liverpool have spent £450m and, from having a team notable for their clarity of thought, seem caught in confusion.
The previous time they lost four in a row, they were failing to integrate a band of new signings. They included Mario Balotelli, Rickie Lambert, Lazar Markovic and Alberto Moreno. While Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren, Divock Origi and Emre Can eventually came good, the class of 2014 was not Liverpool’s finest spending spree.
The £450m men, these 2025 arrivals, came with a higher cost and class. It would be wrong to attribute Liverpool’s slump simply to them; not when Mohamed Salah, who often starts seasons in spectacular style, has been subdued, or when there is a collective lack of cohesion, or when set-piece concessions reflect on more than just any individual. But they are also an issue, along with how and when and where Slot picks them.
There is a mixture of stubbornness and a lack of faith, a bid to parachute in the new and a question of when to return to the old. Milos Kerkez, partly to blame for Bryan Mbeumo’s second-minute opener, has been a major disappointment but has started every league game, whereas there is a case for restoring Andy Robertson, not least because of his relationship with Van Dijk. In contrast, Jeremie Frimpong now appears the third-choice right-back, getting five minutes on the wing against United.
Florian Wirtz has been benched for three major matches, against Everton, Chelsea and United. Slot has searched for solidity by reverting to last season’s trio of Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai, yet Liverpool have lost three times with them together in midfield. “We were too rushed,” said Van Dijk. It was a collective observation from a midfield that are supposed to lend control.
In attack, Slot preferred Alexander Isak to Hugo Ekitike, who looked sharper than the still more expensive striker in his cameo against United. This was the time to see the real Isak, Slot had argued, but the £125m man was largely anonymous. As Slot accepted, they created more chances after his substitutions, even if they abandoned all concept of balance to go all-out attack.
In the broader picture, Liverpool’s three most threatening attackers this season have been Ekitike, Cody Gakpo and Federico Chiesa; not, as may have been imagined, Salah, Isak and Wirtz. It was telling that two of the deadliest forwards in the league last year were taken off. There is a lack of chemistry, untapped potential as individuals and as a unit.
Even with that, Liverpool still fashion opportunities; the most from open play in the league, as Slot clarified. He cannot guarantee that it will continue, but a clinical touch would solve a . “I cannot promise on Wednesday [against Eintracht Frankfurt] that we can create eight or nine open-play chances again but maybe it is best to create less and score more,” he said. Compile the highlights from their last three league matches, he argued, and it would be hard to believe Liverpool lost them. Over encounters with Crystal Palace, Chelsea and United, Liverpool have an xG of 7.77. They have only scored one goal in each.
“So if we can keep producing what we are doing and maybe do a few things a little bit better, then there is every reason to expect that we will win football games again,” Slot said. Yet one of the oddities of a team who spent so much and who are reigning champions, is that their games are won and lost by small margins. Their last 10 matches have all been decided by one goal: six for, then four against.
Increasingly, they are decided by set-pieces, too. Harry Maguire’s winner stemmed from a corner. “It is almost impossible to win a big game of football with a negative set-piece balance,” said Slot; it is a theory he has long had. But there is the question of whether Liverpool’s overhaul has left them with too small a team, Van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate apart. Whether with new or old full-backs, they can concede at the far post.
Slot wondered if Maguire’s decider stemmed in part from the makeup of his team. “We had six or seven offensive players on the pitch,” he said. Szoboszlai was playing right-back, Wirtz central midfield behind a front four. That reflected the attacking options Slot now has but also the 2025-26 Liverpool: a side that has lost its stability and, after the improbable run of late deciders, its winning habit. And two months into the campaign, when they might have imagined a new-look team would be gelling, they are instead losing.
