Arne Slot needs to address these six issues in order to get Liverpool back on track against Chelsea: From struggling Florian Wirtz’s catastrophic Konate, Ibrahima
After Liverpool’s season-opening victory over Bournemouth, Jamie Carragher quickly stated his misgivings about Arne Slot’s tactics. So he wasn’t going to hold back after watching the Reds fall to their second consecutive Champions League defeat against Galatasaray on Tuesday.
“I don’t feel like I’m watching a top team,” Carragher told CBS Sports after his former side was defeated 1-0 at RAMS Park. “Liverpool are currently playing basketball instead of football. It’s just end-to-end, and I don’t believe good teams play that way.
“I expressed that to the manager early on. He’s obviously a fantastic manager but while Liverpool were a top team last season, they were also a workman-like team, and they’ve sprinkled a bit of stardust on it, in terms of the transfers they have brought in. “But they haven’t gained anything going forward, and they’ve lost a lot defensively. So, I think for the manager now, last season was such a smooth ride for him, that he’s now got to really earn his money. He did last season, by winning the Premier League, which was unbelievable.
However, he has a few issues that need to be resolved, and since he has invested a lot of money in some players, it will be fascinating to watch how he approaches them. However, the team’s balance is off at the moment.
What specific issues does Slot face as he attempts to avoid dropping three straight games for the first time since moving to Anfield in the summer of 2024? And will they all be settled before Saturday’s unexpectedly difficult trip to Stamford Bridge to play Chelsea? Below, Kingham Sports examines Liverpool in detail. Despite leading the Premier League, Liverpool appears to be growing more and more fragmented as the season progresses.
The struggling Florian Wirtz!
Despite spending over £400 million on new players during the summer, Hugo Ekitike is the only one who has immediately improved the first team.
The German’s starting position has come under the most scrutiny thus far due to the expenditure on Florian Wirtz and the fact that he hasn’t contributed a goal or an assist. Carragher even went so far as to suggest that the £100 million player should be benched this weekend.
“He’s just not at the races at all,” the former defender stated on CBS. “As a young player joining a new league, he has plenty of time left to play for Liverpool.
“But, right now, I think he needs to come out of the team, Liverpool go back to what they were last season, and then go from there and try to build some confidence and some defensive stability because, right now, it looks like a mess.”
A portion of the criticism directed at Wirtz has been excessive. In fact, Jack Grealish, who is currently receiving praise for his comeback at Everton, is the only Premier League player to have created as many chances across all competitions this season (21).
Slot has acknowledged that Wirtz has found it difficult to handle the rigors of English football, and he appears to be a poor substitute for the dynamic attacking ability that lighted up Bundesliga and Champions League matches for Bayer Leverkusen.
However, even Carragher has admitted that Wirtz cannot be held entirely responsible for Liverpool’s defensive shortcomings this season, and the 22-year-old’s integration hasn’t been helped at all by Alexis Mac Allister, who is incredibly influential, being in and out of the starting lineup due to fitness issues.
Slot must make a crucial decision on Saturday, though, as Liverpool’s overall cohesion has undoubtedly suffered as a result of the problems elsewhere, as playing a proper No. 10 like Wirtz rather than a more diligent attacking midfielder like Dominik Szoboszlai has been detrimental.
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Cody Gakpo’s sharp decline in performance!
In an attempt to force the Germany international into this starting lineup, Slot placed Wirtz on the left side of his attack for last weekend’s defeat at Crystal Palace. But it also mirrored Cody Gakpo’s unexpected difficulties.
In preseason, Gakpo appeared to be a perfect fit to take Luis Diaz’s place on Liverpool’s left wing. The Dutchman has already contributed to three goals in his first two Premier League games of the current season. Since then, he has sadly appeared incredibly predictable, with full-backs well aware that Gakpo’s only goal is to cut inside onto his preferred right foot in order to get a shot.
He didn’t exactly make a strong case for a Premier League recall with his performance in Istanbul, so it wasn’t shocking when he was benched for the match at Selhurst Park. In order to make room for Alexander Isak through the middle, Slot could have, in fact, started Ekitike on the left side at Stamford Bridge.
Even though the 17-year-old seems completely unaffected by pressure, it’s unlikely that Rio Ngumoha will start against the club he left in such contentious circumstances, so Gakpo will likely get another chance to prove himself. The in-form Frenchman, the only bright spark up front against Gala, is expected to miss the trip to west London due to injury.
After all, Slot could really use Gakpo to support Liverpool’s choice to sell Diaz to Bayern Munich.
The problems with Alexander Isak’s involvement and injuries!
From a striking standpoint, Ekitike’s likely absence for a second straight Premier League game is also not ideal.
Naturally, Ekitike’s absence against Chelsea is not his fault, in contrast to his “stupid” suspension for the match at Palace. The former Eintracht Frankfurt forward was forced off due to a muscular issue at RAMS Park. Ultimately, though, Slot is forced to start Isak at Stamford Bridge despite the fact that he is still far from being fully match fit.
The Swede’s summer goal may have finally compelled Newcastle to sell him to Liverpool, but in his first five games for his new team, his complete lack of a preseason has been evident. Isak has yet to play 90 minutes and has only scored one goal, against Southampton of the Championship in the Carabao Cup. He is therefore unlikely to play the full game at the Bridge.
But Liverpool must make sure Isak contributes more to the game while he is playing. Even though Wirtz had given him a beautiful ball over the top minutes after Isak’s introduction, he would only touch the ball four times overall in the thirty minutes remaining when he entered the game against Galatasaray.
It’s interesting to note that this unsettling lack of participation may persuade Slot to keep Wirtz in the No. 10 position. The 22-year-old and Isak got along well while playing together in the 3-2 victory over Atletico Madrid.
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Alexis Mac Allister continues to play catch-up.
It makes sense that there have been calls for Liverpool to return to their core lineup against Chelsea and use the midfield trio that was so crucial to their championship victory the previous season. However, Alexis Mac Allister is still not physically well, even though Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai are currently fully fit.
Of course, this was not how it was supposed to be. According to Slot, Liverpool ended Mac Allister’s 2024–25 season early “to have him ready for the first day of pre-season.”
But it took longer than anticipated for the Argentine to recover from his persistent muscle issue. “As a result of that,” Slot said last week, “he walks behind the music, as we say in Holland, while you say, he’s playing catch-up” .
That’s still very much the case based on what we’ve seen of Mac Allister thus far. Even though he has started each of Liverpool’s five Premier League games so far, he hasn’t played more than 65 minutes since missing the team’s 3-2 victory over Newcastle in August, and he was far behind pace after entering the game for the last 30 minutes in the middle of the week.
Mac Allister is obviously needed at Chelsea by the Reds. It’s safe to say that he was their most dependable player during the previous two seasons, and it’s quite possible that the best of the new Liverpool won’t be revealed until the former Mac Allister returns.
Slot must therefore determine whether it is worth taking the chance of starting the World Cup winner in west London in his current state, particularly since the much-maligned Curtis Jones was among the few players who played well enough against Gala.
The full-back’s uncertainty.
Slot frequently mentions Conor Bradley as another player who did not have a proper preseason because of injury, in addition to Mac Allister and Isak.
But it’s hardly surprising that the Irishman has problems. His ability to remain healthy for a sizable portion of the previous campaign raised questions, which is why there were also concerns about his ability to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold as Liverpool’s starting right-back.
Therefore, it made perfect sense for the club to go out and sign Leverkusen’s Jeremie Frimpong. But neither of the two prospective stars has been able to claim the slot as their own, even though they are vying for it.
Frimpong has been hampered by injury himself, missing two league games due to a hamstring injury, but it must be acknowledged that even when healthy, he has appeared defensively exposed and offensively unimpressive. Bradley, on the other hand, still has the annoying and possibly expensive habit of accepting ridiculous reservations.
The most damning criticism of Frimpong and Bradley’s contributions to date is that Slot has been experimenting with Szoboszlai at right-back, which is explained by everything mentioned above. Furthermore, Milos Kerkez, who hasn’t settled at Anfield like Frimpong has, will be negatively impacted by the possibility that Andy Robertson, who showed clear signs of decline last season, will be called up on Saturday.
All we can say with certainty at this time, given the uncertainty surrounding both full-back positions, is that Slot needs to make the right choices for Stamford Bridge because Chelsea’s primary threat in the absence of Cole Palmer is probably going to come from the flanks.
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Ibrahima Konate’s dilemma
There is no denying that Ibrahima Konate is Liverpool’s main problem at the moment, not the full-backs or even Wirtz’s position.
It was hoped that the Frenchman would use this season to demonstrate why he feels underappreciated, especially since his contract was about to expire. Rather, he’s demonstrating exactly why the Reds made an attempt to sign Marc Guehi.
In fact, given the sharp disparity in their performances at Selhurst Park last Saturday, the collapse of the England international’s agreed-upon transfer from Crystal Palace is, as feared, beginning to resemble a potentially disastrous sliding-doors moment in Liverpool’s season.
Konate was being overpowered by Jean-Philippe Mateta, while Guehi was handling nearly everything the champions threw at him (before later setting up the game-winning goal for Eddie Nketiah). Even worse was to come in Istanbul, where a characteristically careless pass from Konate created the opportunity that led to Alisson’s injury.
The former RB Leipzig defender is currently making at least one major mistake in every game, so if Joe Gomez is healthy (which is always a big “if”), he should start against Chelsea before Konate. Slot already has enough issues to worry about at the moment.
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