Liverpool’s blip is becoming a full-blown crisis as manager Arne Slot urgently seeks answers after the Premier League champions suffered a fourth straight defeat for the first time in more than a decade.<\/p>\n
The Reds lost 2-1 to Manchester United on Sunday — the first time their bitter rivals have won at Anfield since January 2016.<\/p>\n
Liverpool rode their luck in a seven-game winning run at the start of the season, boosted by a flurry of late goals, but an expected improvement in performances has failed to materialise.<\/p>\n
They have now lost four consecutive games in all competitions for the first time since November 2014 when Brendan Rodgers was manager.<\/p>\n
AFP Sport looks at the serious issues that Slot must address to save Liverpool’s season.<\/p>\n
Salah slump<\/p>\n
Mohamed Salah looks a pale shadow of the man who terrorised defences last season on his way to winning the Premier League’s Golden Boot award.<\/p>\n
The “Egyptian King”, so often the fulcrum of Liverpool’s attack, has scored just one goal from open play in the Premier League this season, on the opening weekend.<\/p>\n
On Sunday he was guilty of missing two big chances against United.<\/p>\n
The forward was left out of the starting line-up in the recent Champions League defeat at Galatasaray and, starkly, was hauled off on Sunday even as Liverpool chased an equaliser.<\/p>\n
Slot will hope it is just a temporary loss for form for a player who signed a new two-year contract in April but there must be concerns that, at 33, his best days are behind him.<\/p>\n
Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher, now a Sky Sports pundit, says Salah should no longer have a guaranteed spot every week.<\/p>\n
“I don’t think Salah should be starting every game right now, certainly away from home, with the form he’s in,” he said on Sky.<\/p>\n
“Would he be OK with that? Probably not. But when you get to a certain age you have to understand that, especially when you’re not playing well, where’s your argument?”<\/p>\n
Struggling signings<\/p>\n
Slot chose to go big in the summer transfer window, splashing out more than $450 million ($604 million) on new signings.<\/p>\n
The club twice broke their own transfer record to bring in playmaker Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen and forward Alexander Isak from Newcastle.<\/p>\n
But neither player is yet to register a Premier League goal.<\/p>\n
Hugo Ekitike, another big-money arrival, has made a splash but the Frenchman now appears to be behind the misfiring Isak in the pecking order.<\/p>\n
Liverpool’s substantial spending on forwards was partly driven by the death of Diogo Jota in a car crash in July.<\/p>\n
His absence is the elephant in the room at a club still coming to terms with the absence of the 28-year-old Portugal international.<\/p>\n
At the other end of the pitch, new arrival Milos Kerkez has struggled to settle at left-back, where he has been preferred to veteran Andy Robertson, and Jeremie Frimpong has failed to nail down his spot on the other flank.<\/p>\n
Defensive crisis<\/p>\n
Could Liverpool’s failure to sign central defender Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace on transfer deadline day cost them the Premier League title?<\/p>\n
Since the beginning of May, Liverpool have conceded two more more goals in more Premier League games than any other side, doing so in eight of their 12 league matches.<\/p>\n
Slot’s men have let in 11 goals in their eight league games, in stark contrast to just three by Premier League leaders Arsenal.<\/p>\n
Kerkez and Frimpong have struggled to fill the shoes of Robertson and the departed Trent Alexander-Arnold in the full-back positions.<\/p>\n
Centre-back Ibrahima Konate has come under sustained fire for his poor performances and even the usually imperious captain Virgil van Dijk was caught out in the build-up to Bryan Mbeumo’s opening goal on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Guehi has told Crystal Palace he will not sign a new deal at the club, meaning he could leave in January or at the end of the season.<\/p>\n
But even if the England defender chooses Liverpool over other potential suitors, it could be too little, too late.<\/p>\n
jw\/gj<\/p>\n
\u00a9 Agence France-Presse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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