Liverpool's Dutch manager Arne Slot gestures on the touchline during the English FA Community Shield football match between Crystal Palace and Liverpool at Wembley Stadium, in London on August 10, 2025. (Photo by Glyn KIRK / AFP) / NOT FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING USE / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)placeholder image
Liverpool's Dutch manager Arne Slot gestures on the touchline during the English FA Community Shield football match between Crystal Palace and Liverpool at Wembley Stadium, in London on August 10, 2025. (Photo by Glyn KIRK / AFP) / NOT FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING USE / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images) | AFP via Getty Images
Liverpool have started the Premier League season with a bang but is there a weakness that needs to be addressed.
Liverpool were never going to hit top gear in the early stages of the season after losing key figures and adding a few new faces.
Luis Diaz’s move to Bayern Munich sees a player who would play 50 games exit as well as the departure of Trent Alexander-Arnold and the transition of Andy Robertson into a backup, rather than first-team starter, sees a different looking XI most weeks compared to what fans have been used to seeing. The defence in particular is struggling to find its feet with the changes that have been made. Milos Kerkez has to adapt to the pressure of playing for a big club and Arne Slot will welcome the return of Connor Bradley as a specialist right-back despite how well Dominik Szoboszlai has done as a deputy.
Does Arne Slot have to fix Liverpool’s fragility?
Speaking on the BBC Football Daily podcast, former Spurs midfielder Michael Brown reckons that he has identified what Liverpool’s problem is after coughing up leads in each of their three games so far this season: “I mean, I think I keep saying this as well. It's so early on in the season. You've got new players coming in to try and change the outcome to keep this, the level of performance at Liverpool. And you're going away to Newcastle. It's a difficult place. So I feel like they will take time to get in the stride. We've seen that with so many teams so early on in this Premier League campaign. We can talk about (Ibrahima) Konate.
“We can talk about, do you defend from the front? Is that line going to be the one that's going to set it off? I mean, are they a couple short at the top? Yes, you've got to look at that. And I'm sure they're trying to address it now. Obviously, one extra one is the one that's obviously caught them short. We know they're going to do business in the next couple of days. They're fragile in certain places, but I think we've got to be careful. We've got to see a real good team ethic, a reaction about winning games when you're not playing so well, and that's a good sign for Liverpool. You ask Arne Slot if he'd have took those first two results, he'd have bit your hand off.”
Where do Liverpool need to improve?
Brown has a more than valid point, once Liverpool get two goals in front they should be out of sight and not in any danger of dropping points, especially not against 10-men or at Anfield against any opposition. There is enough experience in the team to know when to control the tempo of a game and when to slow it down.
What Brown doesn’t mention, is that there is also a weakness at set-pieces, a surprise given how big a team Liverpool now have with Hugo Ekitike leading the line, Cody Gakpo playing on the left and Szoboszlai playing at right-back. Whether there is a bit of rustiness or players need to learn new roles remains to be seen but Liverpool shouldn’t need to score three or four goals to win a game of football.
As a positive, it is an easy weakness to fix and it is always easier to learn how to tighten up at the back than it is to learn how to create chances and score goals. All Arne Slot needs is for his rearguard to start hitting the sort of form that his forward line is currently showing and a second title in a row would be a distinct possibility.
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