Arne Slot facing test of his credentials to get new Liverpool clicking

Slot had also made the point in his first interview that there were benefits to succeeding Klopp, chiefly the solidity he found off the pitch and also on it, where Liverpool had been challengers in the previous campaign until the final furlong.

That is not to say that he did not make important adjustments. The deployment of Ryan Gravenberch as a midfield No6 was new and, in November, he utilised Luis Díaz for the first time as a central attacker.

However, the absence of new signings barring Federico Chiesa, who was seldom fit, meant there was a sense of stability, too.

Certainly, he was not confronted by the sheer weight of different conundrums he has faced since the defence of a title began in harrowing circumstances after the death of Diogo Jota, an unimaginable tragedy, the impact of which cannot truly be known by those outside the club.

Liverpool’s perfect start to the season, results wise at least, ended in a deserved defeat by Crystal Palace last weekend when they gave up seven “big chances” which is the most the club has ever faced in a league game since Opta began recording the statistic in 2010. There followed the error-strewn Champions League loss to Galatasaray.

By the time they face Chelsea on Saturday evening, they could have been usurped by Arsenal at the summit of the standings.

Of course, Liverpool, by and large, chose this path.

One of the points Slot repeated over and over again en route to becoming champions was that his side needed to win games more comfortably. In 57 matches in all competitions last season, there were only ten victories by a greater margin than two goals.

He wanted to take the stress out of assignments where dominance would be reflected in the scoreline and so out of a £450million spending spree, £320million was committed to signing strikers, in Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike, and Florian Wirtz recruited as a No10 to unlock low blocks and create from central areas.

Liverpool are still averaging two goals per game in the league, but rather than seeing games out more comfortably the reverse has been true. They have, at times, been too easy to play through and the plan has lost clarity. Isak, for instance, had four touches and made two passes having appeared as a 62nd-minute substitute against Galatasaray.

“Basketball not football,” is how Jamie Carragher described overall performances.

The onus, then, falls squarely on Slot to overcome the teething troubles that were inevitably going to rear and create his own great team.

That the shift in playing personnel has been seismic owes much to players like Trent Alexander-Arnold, Díaz and Darwin Núñez all wanting to leave, Jota’s death, while Andrew Robertson’s time as the regular starting left back has drawn to a close.

There are other complicating factors, such as the injury problems of Alexis Mac Allister, Isak’s lack of match sharpness after he went on strike to secure a British-record £125million move from Newcastle United, and also the form of Mohamed Salah, who returns to his former club with six goal contributions (three strikes and three assists) in eight appearances but so far not the influence he would have hoped to be.

There were times last season when Salah reconciled the fact that he could be on the fringes of matches with the reality that “I always find a moment”.

Making the difference is more difficult when in 50 per cent of his league games he has dropped from an average of 50 touches per game last season to somewhere in the thirties. More of his open-play touches are coming further away from the opposition goal which is hard to believe is part of the plan even allowing for the changes elsewhere in the front line. It was no real surprise that he did not start in Istanbul.

Of course, the fact that Liverpool have a target on their backs and Salah enjoyed such a stellar season last term with regards to output, there were 57 goal contributions, could have simply resulted in rivals paying more attention to him.

Yet some consideration has to be given to how the departure of Alexander-Arnold has affected the 33-year-old. They played together in 316 out of a possible 448 games, which equated to 70 per cent of all matches since Salah came to the club in 2017.

So far this term, Jeremie Frimpong, Conor Bradley, Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru Endo and Joe Gomez have played at right back.

The bulk of Alexander-Arnold’s touches were fairly evenly spread on the right flank — Frimpong and Bradley are having more touches higher up the pitch in the first two thirds of the opposition half. That has not resulted in Salah receiving more of the ball inside and inside the penalty area.

Over on the left, Milos Kerkez is dribbling more than Robertson but is having fewer touches and making fewer crosses. Cody Gakpo has yet to find his stride despite scoring on the opening day of the campaign.

Slot has downplayed the significance of Salah’s form. After the game against Burnley, when Salah scored a 95th-minute winner from the penalty spot having previously been largely anonymous, he said he would seldom take him off in matches when a goal was needed.

Isak, Ekitike and Wirtz represent a succession plan and there was always going to be a tilt away from a dependence on Salah, who signed a new two-year contract in April. Wirtz, in particular, has still to come to terms with swapping the Bundesliga for England’s fast-paced, intense football.

Interestingly, Liverpool have doubled down on their beliefs — a ball-playing centre back (Virgil van Dijk), a No6 who is a flair player (Gravenberch) and a small No10 (Wirtz) — at a time when football appears to be changing.

Slot spoke this week about how he caught 25 minutes of Brentford’s game against Manchester United last weekend and 20 minutes of that was “long throw-ins, set-pieces, long throw-ins, set pieces, corner kick”. It is clear that he does not like the move towards that, having described Liverpool’s 3-2 win at St James’ Park in August as not being a “football match”.

He is going against the trend.

Only two top-flight sides (Manchester City and West Ham United) have attempted fewer long throws into the penalty box than Liverpool (3), who haven’t had one find a team-mate yet. Liverpool are also fourth lowest for long balls (90) in the top flight.

Those figures also have to be considered in the context of Slot’s side having scored six goals from the 83rd minute onwards this season when chasing Premier League results.

They have still tried to play football, frequently sacrificing a defender in favour of an attacker and there is risk and reward to that strategy.

Slot replaced Ibrahima Konaté with 20 plus minutes remaining at Selhurst Park at the weekend. Liverpool levelled but would then concede in the 97th minute, when the height of the France international would have helped.

Overall, it took Slot’s side 22 games to concede four set-piece goals last season, and only six this time around with the defensive drop-off from the tail end of 2024-25 not having been corrected. Back then they were conceding more goals per game, facing more shots and giving up more big chances.

Included in that was a 3-1 loss at Stamford Bridge a week after Liverpool claimed a second title in 35 years, which remains the heaviest defeat of the Slot reign. It is the only occasion they have lost by more than one goal under his command, but it did not seem to matter as the ride under the Dutchman had been a smooth one.

A little later than expected but Liverpool are discovering what change really looks and feels like and attempting to forge a new team while winning at the same time is not easy.

The thinking behind the extent of the squad surgery will have been to do it once and do it correctly, regardless of whether it results in short-term turbulence.

Some may see the champions spending £450million and simply expect the defence of the title to be formality. Others will consider the picture to be more nuanced and Liverpool will not have told Slot that he must win the league.

His work on what is shaping up to be a difficult second album is under way and will serve as a true test of his capabilities.

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