🔗 Share this article

Keep composure. This proved to be the serene guidance offered by Liverpool's captain and the young midfielder midweek as the Merseyside club digested consecutive setbacks for the second time under the Dutch manager.

The coach stayed relaxed and positive on Friday, including several unprompted comments that the squad he was defending from infrequent scrutiny are top of the the league. Once more. However underneath the soothing words and favorable league table, there are unquestionable concerns with Liverpool's displays that, per the coach himself, go beyond than the opening ten matches of the campaign.

We had been very happy claiming the championship,” said the Liverpool boss. “Yet we didn't close our vision for the second part of the term to how many times we depended on a set piece [to win].”

The reigning English champions have not been finding it difficult to create chances from general play or to convert dominant possession into decisive triumphs this term, their head coach maintained. Liverpool have been struggling to do each since the second half of the prior term, once opponents changed their game plans to stifle them, and are yet to find solutions.

Statistical Support

Data corroborate Slot. During the initial nineteen fixtures of his debut season, the team scored forty-seven goals with forty (85.1%) resulting from live action. During the last 19 league games, Liverpool managed 39 goals, of which twenty-seven (just over two-thirds) were from live action. The decline has been improved in the current campaign, admittedly in limited games, with 83.3% of their twelve top-flight strikes originating from live action (a high percentage).

• Opening phase: the majority of goals from open play
• Closing phase: under seventy percent of goals from open play
• Current season: over eighty percent of goals from open play

However their showings so far this term, especially the defeats at Selhurst Park and in Turkey in the span of a few days, cannot be linked solely to a dip in set-piece prowess only. Even, their run of seven victories before traveling to Crystal Palace was regularly followed by the qualification that the side won late and/or despite an uneven showing.

Team Problems

The German playmaker is taking time to settle to the pace of the English football and is a expensive signing that the coach is still trying to integrate to optimal performance. Their new full-backs, the Dutch defender and Milos Kerkez, were staunchly defended by their boss ahead of the loss in Turkey but are still not at the performance of the their predecessors.

The forward is not match sharp having spent the break in dispute at Newcastle, and the centre-back's displays has abandoned him. The problems continues. Only Hugo Ekitiké, Van Dijk, Alisson, who will miss the weekend fixture to Chelsea with a muscle problem, the Hungarian midfielder and the engine-room player have performed consistently well in the current campaign.

Key Missing piece

Liverpool are in dire need of the Argentine midfielder to restore complete health and his contribution over their rhythm, composure and penetration. The Argentina international was left out of the last two matches of the prior term to start his rehabilitation from a persistent groin injury and come back in shape for the build-up. Ideally, that was the plan. His recovery process was lengthier than foreseen, pre-season was frequently interrupted as a outcome, and a crucial part in the manager's machine has failed to play a full match for his team following the single-goal success at the King Power Stadium on the spring date.

“People claim he’s playing catchup,” the manager commented. “Back home we say he is out of sync.” They will be a changed outfit once he is directing midfield next to the other midfielder once more.

Next Steps

Slot has highlighted the advantages of versatility in his revamped team, with the summer arrivals Wirtz, Ekitiké, Isak and Frimpong able to play in a multiple roles, but a club in flux could do with increased regularity in lineup choices to hasten the transition.

“I don’t think we do things differently but I observe rivals doing a lot of tactics unlike before when facing us,” he explained. “My predecessor left me a lot of advantages but one benefit he gave me was concluding in third place the year before and in fifth position the campaign prior to that.”

Liverpool boast enough world-class talent to correct their unconvincing form, as Curtis Jones commented lately, but the manager acknowledges the remedy is trickier than relying on the new signing and Isak to hit their stride. Chelsea's ground could be a good place to start, nevertheless.

It's a mix,” the boss stated. “In what way can we find our wingers? Do we find them regularly and in promising situations {like we did|as we managed|similar