Liverpool's poor form has seen them ship a goal inside the first 15 minutes of their last four games - changing that might be key to a turnaround under Arne Slot
Slot during the defeat to Brentford (Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)
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Ordinarily, a place in the fifth round of the Carabao Cup might not represent a sizable of reward for a Liverpool manager. But as Arne Slot continues to assess the wreckage of a run that has seen him lose five of the last six, victory against Crystal Palace on Wednesday night is now almost imperative.
Passage to the next stage of the Cup won't be as prized as a win itself though, as Liverpool go about dodging the avalanche of debate and criticism that has rolled in their direction at some pace since the start of this run at the end of September.
Inevitably, the critiquing and the analysis of the problems have been intense in recent weeks and Slot's admission that he has yet to counteract the fact that the opposition have essentially figured out a blueprint to success against the Premier League champions has caused some concern.
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“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 said after Saturday's 3-2 loss at Brentford.
“Going down 1-0 every time doesn’t help either. Teams know which strategy to play against us. Even when we didn’t play well today we still scored twice from open play but you can’t compete up there (at the top of the table) because we simply concede too many goals.
“It’s not just the defence, it’s the 11 players together. It definitely also has to do with if you change quite a lot in the summer then it’s not a surprise it can go a bit like this. I didn’t expect it to be four losses in a row, let that be clear. It’s not an excuse but the last six we played the last five have been away and that’s not helpful."
Slot in right in his assertions about the fixture list. Liverpool have covered quite the distance in recent weeks in their efforts to put right a sequence that has only gotten worse since the defeat at Crystal Palace on September 27.
Trips to Galatasaray, Chelsea and Eintracht Frankfurt have all come in the last month alongside that dismal night at the Gtech Stadium on Saturday, while the sole home game in that time was against a Manchester United side who snatched a first win at Anfield in nine years.
It's been the month from hell for Slot, with the sole victory coming against Frankfurt last week. That 5-1 hammering of the Bundesliga side might have provided cause for optimism but it was always going to be the weekend's game that would indicate whether or not the manager and under-fire players had made it out of the woods.
As it turned out, that miserable setback confirmed the worst and with Arsenal potentially 10 points clear by the time Liverpool face an Aston Villa side who arrive at Anfield this weekend fresh from beating Manchester City on Saturday night, the champions really could be facing up to the end of their title defence this weekend.
"That's what happens when you win the Premier League," says Wayne Rooney on teams approaching games with Liverpool in a more direct manner. "That's what happens when teams try and figure out your weaknesses. It looks like a lot of teams have done that this season.
"And you need to adjust. You need to adapt. You need to adapt and you need to be ready for teams maybe trying something a little bit different against you. And Liverpool haven't figured it out yet. And also, it goes back to the confidence again and Liverpool are in a bad place at the moment."
Key to stopping the rot surely lies in starting games in better fashion. Liverpool have conceded inside the opening 15 minutes of their last four games - including after just 62 seconds against United - which is the worst sequence of its kind for 29 years.
Early setbacks, even for the most hardened of teams, surely dents morale and confidence and for a team who are already at a low ebb and under-performing, it must be so difficult rallying and providing a response.
Slot's team have rarely flown out of the traps during his time in charge but avoiding a concession in the opening exchanges might go a long way towards allowing Liverpool to play the sort of game-plan that he and his staff will have worked on during the week.
With the season now two-and-a-half months old, it's fair to say the grand plan of the summer - when a historical outlay of around £450m was forked out - has yet to reveal itself.
Stronger starts to games might just help on that score, starting with Wednesday's relatively low-key tie.