Liverpool coach Arne Slot said opponents have identified a winning strategy against his English Premier League champions, and he needs to find a solution fast after a 3-2 defeat at Brentford on Saturday made it four league losses in a row.
Their title defence had begun well, but defeats at Crystal Palace, Chelsea and Brentford, as well as last week’s 2-1 home defeat by Manchester United, have knocked the Dutchman’s side off the rails.
Slot said the loss at Brrentford was arguably the worst performance in their slump as Liverpool were deservedly beaten by a side who ruthlessly exploited their fragility.
Photo: AFP
“I’ve said this many times already that teams have a certain playing style against us, which is a very good strategy to play, and we haven’t found an answer yet,” Slot told reporters. “Also, going 1-0 down doesn’t really help as well after five minutes, but even today, when we don’t play well, we’re able to score two goals and create more chances from open play.”
Liverpool have conceded early goals in each of their four Premier League defeats and went behind at Eintracht Frankfurt in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday before storming back to win 5-1.
The way they conceded the first goal to Brentford after five minutes was especially frustrating for Slot, who said they had spent Friday preparing for Brentford’s long throws.
However, they could not deal with Michael Kayode’s delivery, and when Kristoffer Ajer flicked the ball on Dango Ouattara reacted superbly to hook his volley past Giorgi Mamardashvili.
Liverpool spent more than 400 million pounds (US$532.43 million) in the summer transfer window on Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Milos Kerkez and Alexander Isak, but have looked a shadow of the side that won the club’s record-equaling 20th league title in Slot’s first season.
They have lost four of their opening nine games, as many as they did in the whole of last season.
“If you change quite a lot during the summer, then I think it’s not a surprise that it can go a bit like this, but I didn’t expect it to go with four losses in a row,” Slot said.
Former Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson, impressive once again for Brentford in midfield, said he expected his old club to pull out of their slump.
“I know there’s been results of late that haven’t been great for them, but, for me, they’re still top players and a top, top team, and it’s a matter of time before they get in a rhythm and get going,” he said.
By the time Cameron Menzies finally left the arena on Monday, the blood gushing from the gash on his right hand had trickled down his wrist, part of his forearm and — somehow — up to his face. Smeared in crimson and regret, and already mouthing sheepish apologies to the crowd, he disappeared down the steps, pursued by a stern-looking Matt Porter, the chief executive of Professional Darts Corp (PDC). The physical scars from Menzies’ encounter with the Alexandra Palace drinks table after his 3-2 defeat against Charlie Manby at the Darts World Championship would be gone within a few weeks.
Manchester United on Monday blew the lead three times to miss out on moving up to fifth in the Premier League as AFC Bournemouth would not be beaten in a thrilling 4-4 draw at Old Trafford. United have lost just once in their past 10 games, but Ruben Amorim would be frustrated as more points at home were frittered away despite arguably the best attacking display of his reign in charge. Amad Diallo and Casemiro gave the hosts a halftime lead either side of Antoine Semenyo’s equalizer. Two Bournemouth goals from Evanilson and Marcus Tavernier in seven minutes at the start of the
LOW-GOAL SHOOT-OUT: Of the nine penalties in the shoot-out, only three went in, with Flamengo’s Samuel Lino, and Vitinha and Nuno Mendes of PSG netting Matvei Safonov on Wednesday made four straight penalty saves in a penalty shoot-out to help Paris Saint-Germain beat Flamengo in the Intercontinental Cup final and win a sixth trophy of the year. The Russian goalkeeper was thrown in the air by his teammates after his exploits in the shoot-out, which was won 2-1 by PSG after a 1-1 draw after extra-time. It completed a trophy-laden 12 months for the French team, who had already won the Trophee des Champions, Ligue 1, the Coupe de France, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Super Cup — also on penalties against Tottenham Hotspur in
LACKLUSTER FIGHT: At one stage, the referee lost patience with the two fighters, warning them in the fourth round that ‘the fans did not pay to see this crap’ Former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua on Friday knocked out YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in their controversial Netflix-backed bout in Miami. The fight at the Kaseya Center, which saw both men reportedly splitting a mammoth purse of US$184 million, had triggered alarm across boxing due to the gulf in physical size and class between Britain’s two-time former world champion Joshua and Paul, an Internet personality who has forged a lucrative career through a handful of novelty boxing contests. However, in the event, Joshua made hard work of defeating his vastly less accomplished opponent, before his superior size and power eventually told
RSS