Awful & outplayed – Slot must look closer to home to end Liverpool slump

Arne Slot, head coach at Liverpool, pointed out a shift in how they approached their opponents during this season as a contributing factor to the struggles of the Premier League champions.

After this miserable night at Brentford, though, it is now time to reflect more broadly.

The scoreline of just 3 to 3 is misleading. If Liverpool had somehow saved a point, it would have been a grand larceny because Brentford were superior in every way.

Slot cited the Reds’ dramatic fall from grace as a factor in their dramatic decline, which resulted in a fourth successive Premier League defeat, along with the number of long balls they faced.

The Dutchman now needs to concentrate on the desperate efforts of his own players, who were incredibly vulnerable, exposed, flat, and completely out of sorts, rather than publicly flagging this as a potential weakness in his Liverpool side.

As they sluggished once more, leaving the visiting fans in agony as they made their way home from a chilly west London night, they offered no one redeeming feature.

They are only the fourth reigning champions to lose four games in a row after Leicester in 2016-17, Liverpool themselves in 2020-21, and Manchester City last season, losing just four. They have lost as many Premier League games this term as they have in their entire title-winning campaign.

After just five minutes, Dango Ouatarra scored from Kristoffer Ajer’s flick-on, if he had been aware of how the opposition tried to unlock Liverpool, he would not have been surprised if he had known.

Simply put, Liverpool was outplayed. And terrible. They succumbed to counter-attacks and set-pieces, which is the old-fashioned story we know today.

The decline in standards from the Anfield outfit is alarming, but Brentford’s own outstanding display under a leader of growing stature in Keith Andrews must not be ignored.

With Mikkel Damsgaard’s incredible through-ball releasing Kevin Schade for a stylish second goal, The Bees were able to run through them effortlessly, unsettling them at every turn.

Liverpool faced issues from well-known artists of the past to ostentatious, overpriced new acquisitions who were merely unimpressive.

Virgil van Dijk cannot escape scrutiny, his tense partnership with Liverpool’s struggling £40 million Milos Kerkez, and the captain’s first-half quarrels with the Hungarian.

On the line of the penalty area, Van Dijk brought down Outarra, and Igor Thiago’s spot kick was the one that Brentford could not have won.

Liverpool have conceded 14 goals in their nine league games this season, compared to Liverpool’s 22 since the start of May, and they have conceded 2+ goals in their most recent nine games. Prior to their 16th game, they did not concede their 14th goal in the previous campaign.

Liverpool’s midfield was inexistent, and hope that £116 million Florian Wirtz had resurrected with a better performance in the 5-1 Champions League victory at Eintracht Frankfurt was shattered here.

With seven minutes left and Brentford 3-1 up, the German missed a fantastic opening opportunity before being replaced by a defender, Joe Gomez.

Slot’s assessment of the impact and impact of his summer signing was quite positive. As he left, Brentford’s supporters chanted “what a waste of money!” to his departure.

In a frantic finale, Mohamed Salah flashed one more example of the old mastery, giving Liverpool hope they did not deserve, but it was another subpar performance from one of the club’s greatest players who is struggling for inspiration and self-assurance.

Hugo Ekitike, the one summer arrival who has flourished, had no service deserving of the name in the absence of injured £125 million buy Alexander Isak and midfielder Ryan Gravenberch.

According to Slot, “It was a disappointing result and a disappointing performance as well,” he continued on BBC’s Match of the Day.

Three goals is far too much to win a football game, according to the saying. One of Brentford’s strengths is the set-piece and the counter-attack, which are both very good at.

“What I need to do is examine both our mistakes and our errors,” she says. Although I know where we need to improve, this hasn’t been the case with other games. The fundamentals were not done correctly.

Slot will need to quickly discover the solutions.

In addition to a home league game against Aston Villa, Liverpool’s next four games will be against Crystal Palace at Anfield in the final 16 of the Carabao Cup. Real Madrid then travel to Manchester City, where you can be certain Erling Haaland will be licking his lips if he faces a defense this weak.

Wirtz continues to try his luck, encouraging any ambitious opponents, into the Liverpool team, which has a quality but no shape team. Nothing has improved or made any progress despite the nearly £450 million spent this summer.

Given their struggles, Liverpool’s much-discussed blip seems to be achieving that victory at Eintracht Frankfurt, which is unthinkable given their recent success, which included finishing 10 points clear of them in the lead.