The Liverpool ECHO chats exclusively to Liverpool legend Graeme Souness about his former club's season so far, which took a major turn for the worse at the weekend
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - SEPTEMBER 12: Graeme Souness during the 150th Anniversary Heritage Match between Scotland and England at Hampden Park on September 12, 2023 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
Liverpool legend Graeme Souness has spoke exclusively to the ECHO about the problems engulfing his former club
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Arne Slot was conspicuous only by his absence at the North West Football Writers Association awards on Sunday evening. The Liverpool boss was named as the Premier League's best for last season's title-winning term but was not present to collect the award at Manchester's Edwardian Radisson hotel.
It speaks to how quickly things have unravelled for Slot that the Reds head coach was given the honour while being knee deep in crisis at Anfield. There was no official explanation given for his absence on the night itself but a run of eight defeats in the last 11 - and six from the seven in the Premier League - might be the best place to begin the speculation.
In place of Slot, club ambassador Gary McAllister was dispatched to accept the award on behalf of the Dutchman, who did not provide a thank-you video unlike other absentees, and it was a wise move to sidestep an event celebrating last year's achievement the day after the nadir that was Saturday's dismal 3-0 defeat to a Nottingham Forest team who were in the relegation zone prior to kick-off on Merseyside.
The problems are multiplying for the manager and his players right now; they are bereft of confidence and quality has deserted so many of those who sauntered to the title last term with four games to spare.
Some bookmakers have even made Slot the favourite to be the next Premier League manager sacked and, while Fenway Sports Group have proven themselves as some of the more patient owners around, there are major question marks around how this is all turned around now.
Liverpool have kept just four clean sheets since the title was confirmed as theirs in late April and only rock-bottom Wolverhampton Wanderers' 41 is worse than the champions' tally of 39 goals conceded across Europe's top-five leagues since May.
The caveat there, of course, is that Slot and his players had already done the hard yards by winning the club's 20th championship against Tottenham Hotspur the previous month.
But those halcyon days of Spring seem a long time ago now and how much insulation those days are affording Slot is very much open to debate.
"When your team are conceding goals, you automatically look at goalkeepers and your back four," Liverpool legend Graeme Souness tells the ECHO. "I was at the Community Shield at Wembley, the first day of the season, when they played Crystal Palace, and for me, they weren’t right in midfield.
"People are saying that Dominik Szoboszlai has had a great start to the season – with the ball, yes. But without the ball I’m not sure with the transitions. Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch are good at that – in those three midfield players you have experience in winning the Premier League and then you try and introduce Florian Wirtz into that, and I think he’s playing catch up.
“For the rest of the squad, they’re conceding goals that they don’t normally. Virgil van Dijk is now 34 and he made two mistakes in the Community Shield final – he was at fault for both goals just by being six inches too late. There is no doubt about it, at 34 the decline has started - he is still a wonderful player, but he will be on that slope and the same with Mohamed Salah – that worries me."
Saturday was Slot's 50th Premier League game in charge at Anfield and the fact he has the best win-rate of any Reds manager - having won 31 of those - yet finds himself still facing up to questions over his long-term ability to address the form provides another snapshot of the sheer velocity at which the elite-level now moves.
Another is the situation Alexander Isak finds himself engulfed in right now. The striker was only outscored by 29-goal Salah in last season's Premier League but the £125m, British-record signing looks a pale imitation of the forward who emerged as a world-class talent during his time with Newcastle United.
The Sweden international arrived at Anfield on transfer deadline day, two weeks after the campaign was underway and without the benefit of a pre-season schedule - which owed to his acrimonious departure from Tyneside - and 15 touches in a 68-minute cameo against Forest was indicative of someone still trying to get up to speed at a time when Slot can ill afford to carry passengers.
"The biggest mystery to me would be Isak," Souness says in a chat arranged in association with Sky Bet.
"I know he’s currently [not 100%] but when you buy a player, you’re looking to take all the grey areas out of the deal but there are no grey areas with Isak - he’s performed in the Premier League and has shown that he can play at a big football club. "So, you think that when he comes to Liverpool, he would just slot in immediately but that’s not happened. Isak is a proper player, and he will get important goals for Liverpool, but right now it’s not working."
Creative midfielder Wirtz was sidelined on Saturday after returning from Germany duty with a muscle injury but the £116m capture from Bayer Leverkusen has so far struggled generally to replicate the form that earned him the Bundesliga's player of the year award last time out.
Flashes of a prodigious talent have been shown at times, most notably in the Champions League, but the versatile attacker is another who has found it tough to get going after a summer outlay of close to £450m, which was a record spend one for one window.
Former captain Souness, who won five league titles and three European Cups with Liverpool, says: “You spend over £100m on Wirtz and want him to come in and for it to be seamless, but that has not happened.
“When you’ve lost a number of games now, you’ll be reverting to the tried and tested midfield three (of Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai and Mac Allister) and we’ll see that going forward.
"They are all fabulous on the ball, but I just worry slightly about when there is a transition and they’re not in possession of the ball, they look too easy to play against. They’re all top players but I’d like to play against those three and I think other teams will see that.
“I have to say that the Bundesliga is several rungs down the ladder compared to the intensity that the boys have to perform to every single week in the Premier League. There is no doubt that he has ability, but this must be a period of adjustment for him.
"Wirtz is only 22 years old, so is he feeling the pressure of the price tag? When you play for Liverpool, every single game is a cup final for the opposition. There are no doubts that he has the technique to do it in England, it’s just how well. I wouldn’t be making my mind up too soon on him - let’s see where we’re at come the end of the season."
Souness adds: “Dominik Szoboszlai is a fabulous striker of the ball - good ball technique. But my only concern is when the ball changes hands and you’re no longer in possession; does he sense any danger? Does he sense it quick enough?
"The way the game is played, possession changes hands and within two passes someone is having a pop at your goal. I like to watch him play football, he’s an elegant player, but I think collectively the midfield could do better when they don’t have the ball.”