Midway through Arne Slott’s debut season at Liverpool, they have 46 points, six ahead of their opponents who have played a game more. Halfway through his sophomore season, they were ranked fourth. Is this fair? “Yeah, yeah,” Sloat echoed.
This shows that things are not going exactly as planned. It feels like an indictment given that two-thirds of their £450m spend has been on attacking players, with only one player having scored more league goals than Ryan Gravenberch, or more in all competitions than Dominik Szoboszlai.
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This means that, although the 0-0 draw with Leeds on New Year’s Day was the first 0-0 game of Slott’s reign, it was reflective of wider issues. While scorer leader Hugo Ekitic had a terrible night, it was unclear who would score.
If it seemed that Liverpool had assembled a quartet in the summer, an unstoppable quartet, that was not the case.
Alexander Isak is injured, as he often is. Mohamed Salah was as present at the Africa Cup of Nations as ever, but only after he was dropped, his future was in doubt and his absence was accompanied by a tactical rethink. Florian Wirtz struggled against Leeds United and is bothered by a minor hamstring injury.
Liverpool, a team seemingly built to beat their opponents, now adopt a less ambitious design. They are twenty percent of Slott. “Every game we play is tough and the two teams are very close,” he explained. “We’re primarily a team that’s probably better than other teams, but not enough. We’ve been within that 20 percent margin.”
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The first five months of their campaign can be divided into three thirds. There was early brinkmanship and the victory was driven by late goals, but the game was too open. With six defeats in seven games, the title defense was effectively destroyed in November. The subsequent unbeaten run was accomplished without Salah, placing an even greater emphasis on stability.
Slott laments that Liverpool either need a magic moment or a set-piece to break down a crowded defense (Getty)
“We struggled the whole time,” Slaughter admitted. “In terms of results, we started really well [but] The game was very close. Then we were at a point in the season where the games were still very close but we were always unlucky. Now we’re seven or eight games unbeaten but if you say that you feel like, ‘They’re flying in the league’. But that’s not what we’re doing. “
Slott often laments that Liverpool either need a magic moment or a set-piece to break down a crowded defence, and when their set-piece balance is negative, his players are penalized for their honesty if they don’t get a penalty, and he was hoping to get one against Leeds United. “It’s a small margin. So that could impact us getting three, four, five, six more points, maybe,” Slaughter said. But Liverpool have not beaten their opponents: they have drawn 3 times in the league, 11 games have been decided by one goal, and only one has been decided by more than two goals, and they lost that game.
Virgil van Dijk during the Premier League match between Liverpool and Leeds United (Getty Images)
“I’m going to keep working hard and the players are going to keep working hard to get our winning percentage above 20 percent and we can get even bigger and hopefully we can find a moment where we can fly all season long, but in the first 19 games it’s a constant battle,” Slaughter said.
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Liverpool had to double down on their fighting ability. During their eight-match unbeaten run, they have kept four clean sheets and conceded just six goals; three of those came in a 3-3 draw at Elland Road, and Slott believes Leeds actually created some good chances.
“I think it’s clear that we almost don’t acknowledge opportunity anymore,” Slaughter said. But there’s a trade-off. “It’s also clear and obvious to me that we found it difficult to create enough chances for all the possession we had and that’s not new to us this season.”
Leeds United’s Anton Stach (left) and Liverpool’s Florian Wirtz (right) battle for the ball (Peter Byrne/PA) (PA Wire)
Captain Virgil van Dijk highlighted a more pragmatic shift. “There’s more emphasis on the fact that you have to defend as a team to prevent opportunities that go against you,” the defender said. “I think that has definitely happened. You can see the effort our midfield has put in to help us be the last line of defence.”
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But in a season where Liverpool is out of balance, the team may suffer from lackluster performances and a lack of players with the potential to score goals. Their current unbeaten run puts them in eighth place. In their 100% winning start, no one has scored more goals than them. But in six of seven defeats, only Burnley has conceded more goals. Defensive improvements have come without Salah, but as Slott knows, Liverpool are not flying. Not when they’re still 20 per centre.
