Liverpool Leadership Tested Amid Form Concerns

Liverpool travel to Chelsea with renewed scrutiny on Arne Slot and his reigning Premier League champions. Consecutive defeats to Crystal Palace and Galatasaray have brought an unusually critical tone from pundits, including Jamie Carragher, who claimed Liverpool “don’t appear a top team at present”. Slot, however, remains composed, publicly accepting the flaws without conceding ground on the wider narrative.

Slot Addresses Defensive Fragility

Although Liverpool still lead the Premier League, only four clean sheets in 21 matches underline why questions persist. Slot did not shy away from acknowledging that his team must tighten up.

“In the last two games we’ve lost, we’ve lost a few very simple balls and that adds to the thought, ‘wow, are we playing poor?’ as we let ourselves down,” said the Liverpool boss.

“We were 2-0 up against Bournemouth (on the opening day), very, very, very good game, much better than we’ve played in the second half of the season. But then we concede two, and everybody is starting to be more negative about that as well. And I can come up with a few other examples. Against Atletico Madrid, it was an unbelievable start of the game but then they come back in the game, and all of a sudden the general opinion is not as positive anymore.

“There are enough positives to take from this season. If you talk about open play goals, we’ve done much better in the first part of this season than the second part of last season. But there are also things we definitely have to improve. I’m the first one to acknowledge that.”

Midfield Rotation Creating Growing Pains

The 1-0 loss to Galatasaray marked only the fifth time in 66 matches that Liverpool failed to score under Slot. He attributed some of the inconsistency to enforced changes in midfield and the adaptation of high-profile signing Florian Wirtz.

“We’ve brought in a very different midfielder than we had (in the number 10 role) last season, which we think we needed because the amount of goals we found from open play in the first part of last season and the second part of last season, there’s a big, big difference,” he said.

“The different set-up in midfield (this season) is not only because I wanted it, it was a lot of times also because we needed because of the injuries or suspensions we had.”

Chelsea Clash Demands Ruthless Edge

Liverpool must be wary of Chelsea’s set-piece threat. Slot laid out the challenge clearly.

“We’ve unlocked teams in the second half of the season by scoring seven corner kicks,” he said.

“The team we face on Saturday have scored more than 50% of their goals, although they are on eight points, from set-pieces. The number two of the league has scored 60% of their goals from set pieces.

“So they have the same issues if they face a low block, but the way to unlock a low block is we have to do better, we have to find the ways of unlocking that, maybe scoring the first chance we get. But that’s not the only thing.”

Liverpool under Slot have rarely stumbled twice in succession and never three times. Chelsea away is an unforgiving setting in which to rediscover rhythm, yet precisely the kind of fixture that once defined title winners. If Slot’s words are anything to go by, Liverpool know what must change. Delivering it at Stamford Bridge is the next test.