In his latest column, John Aldridge looks at Liverpool no longer being realistic Premier League title contenders and what could happen next for Arne Slot
Mohamed Salah of Liverpool
Mohamed Salah of Liverpool(Image: Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
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Liverpool can forget about winning the Premier League now. That just isn’t going to happen with the Reds having lost too many games already.
Even before the Aston Villa match, I thought that unless Arsenal lost their nerve once again, it would be too much for Arne Slot’s side to make up.
It’s definitely the case now. Arsenal are only going to lose maybe another three league games all season, so for us to overturn that we’ll have to go on a long winning run and be unbeaten for the rest of the season.
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No chance. Not with this team at the moment, anyway. It would be far, far too difficult.
The concentration in the league, then, will be on ensuring a top-four place and qualification for the Champions League. The table is so close between third and 13th that there’s still plenty of time for Liverpool to get themselves sorted and move back up the standings.
But maybe winning the Champions League is now a more realistic aim, although obviously that is not going to be easy.
We’ve shown in the past that it isn’t beyond us, and we are capable of beating anyone in the competition. We’ve already won against Arsenal and Real Madrid this season, and they are supposedly two of the very best teams in Europe.
However, we will have to start defending far more consistently because if you have an off-day in the knockout stages, then that’s more or less it.
The FA Cup could now also become a more important competition given it represents a chance to win a trophy.
Slot picked some very understrength teams last season and was caught out at Plymouth Argyle. But it may be that he needs to give the FA Cup a bit more attention, depending on who we end up being drawn against.
Time for a change?
Expectations and goals have now shifted for Liverpool. And right now the priority should be getting the new players integrated and finding a system in which they can all click.
Whether that’s the current one or a variation is what Arne Slot really need to determine over the coming weeks.
I want to see what the plan is. Having Alexander Isak up front and Florian Wirtz in behind doesn’t really work unless you have two really good defensive midfielders.
We haven’t. Ryan Gravenberch is technically gifted, Dominik Szoboszlai has been Liverpool’s best player this season and Alexis Mac Allister has shown signs of better form.
But they are all creative players. Liverpool need someone like Declan Rice in there if they are to get more out of Wirtz.
It could be that when Mohamed Salah goes to the Africa Cup of Nations in December, the system could be tweaked. Maybe Wirtz could go on the right and Isak down the middle and Cody Gakpo on the left, but Salah is going to need replacing.