Frail Liverpool desperately need a reset but more punishment might be on the way

Arne Slot used to be swathed in the right sort of statistics. He was the head coach who only lost one of his first 30 Premier League games, who won far more of his first 50 games in charge than any previous Liverpool manager. When the final whistle blew at Brentford on Saturday, Liverpool had five consecutive defeats in England. For the first time since 1970, they have lost five straight league games in London. And, as Liverpool prepare for a third meeting of a campaign that seems to be going off the rails with one of their conquerors, in one respect their capital record is still worse than that.

Include the Carabao Cup final and the Community Shield, factor in a penalty shootout, and they have had seven straight setbacks in London. There is a pertinence to each: without Alexander Isak ’s Wembley goal in March, would Liverpool have been so desperate to sign him ? The Community Shield, meanwhile, was both evidence that Marc Guehi would not go on strike to force a move to Merseyside and that, actually, Liverpool required his services more.

Guehi will instead arrive at Anfield with Crystal Palace on Wednesday in the Carabao Cup . Palace were the first – in anything resembling an official fixture - to highlight the frailties of the revamped Liverpool, coming from 2-0 down to draw within 90 minutes in August’s Community Shield . It was easy to attribute it to teething troubles, and not unfair either. Rather, it was a sign of things to come.

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Liverpool have lost four 2-0 leads this season now. If it isn’t more, it is because they have conceded the opener in six games in a row. They are four of eight games when Liverpool have conceded at least twice; last season, in contrast, they were breached twice in a match for the eighth time at the end of January, with a weakened team Slot selected because they had already won the Champions League’s initial phase. They conceded as many goals at Brentford as Arsenal have conceded all season. Only five clubs have let in more goals in the Premier League.

Liverpool’s openness in the Community Shield was a warning. At times this season, they have been defending with, in effect, two outfield players: Virgil van Dijk and the distinctly erratic Ibrahima Konate. Liverpool ended up playing something approximating to 4-1-5 against Manchester United. Slot, who had a balanced side last season, has a wildly imbalanced one now.

Which is a greater issue when Liverpool should be on a quest for solidity. They have scored in 43 consecutive Premier League games. The logical path back to victory should be based on clean sheets, but Liverpool’s recruitment has left them less equipped to keep them.

They are weaker in both full-back positions; Slot’s lack of trust in Jeremie Frimpong as a right-back was apparent even before his fellow Dutchman was sidelined for a second time. Milos Kerkez has been individually susceptible and lacks Van Dijk’s understanding with Andy Robertson.

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Liverpool are unfortunate that their Carabao Cup campaign has cost them the services of summer signing Giovanni Leoni for the season . But Slot has looked reluctant to pick Joe Gomez, with the consequence that Konate, unpredictable as some of his performances have been, has been ever present in the Premier and Champions Leagues. Liverpool could have done with the calming head of Guehi, whose deadline-day move to Anfield broke down; that nonetheless prompted questions why it was not prioritised earlier.

Those centre-backs have been exposed. They have often lacked midfield protection. Alexis Mac Allister has rarely looked fully fit all season, Ryan Gravenberch has been out, Curtis Jones is now absent and Dominik Szoboszlai, far from being dropped after Florian Wirtz’s signing, now feels a first choice in about three roles. He has not missed a minute, apart from in the Carabao Cup.

But, once again, it highlights Liverpool’s choices in the transfer market. Since Martin Zubimendi’s 2024 U-turn, when he stayed at Real Sociedad for another year, Gravenberch has been reinvented, but it is nevertheless surprising Liverpool have not attempted to buy anyone who could be classed as a defensive midfielder. Saturday suggested that the 35-year-old Jordan Henderson could be of use to them now, two years after Jurgen Klopp moved on from his captain. There are growing reasons to believe the £125m committed to Isak should instead have been split between a centre-back and a central midfielder.

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With Waturu Endo’s season amounting to 39 minutes in the Premier League and none in the Champions League, it is apparent Slot scarcely even considers the Japanese midfielder an option. The Dutchman operated with a core of around 14 players at Feyenoord and again last season; but after £450m of spending, with his own signings, without players he often overlooked, such as Harvey Elliott and Jarell Quansah, there was scope to perm from a bigger squad.

Instead, he is yet to emulate Klopp, who showed a mastery of rotation in his final season, aided by his capacity to praise fringe figures. Results contribute: it can seem harder to rotate a losing team when changes feel more like an attempt to return to winning ways. It may be contradictory, too, to say that selection needs to be more of a meritocracy. But some – Isak, Kerkez, Mac Allister, Konate – appear to have been afforded preferential treatment this season when others – Hugo Ekitike, Federico Chiesa, Robertson, Jones, Gomez – could be entitled to feel they should have started instead.

And so Liverpool look in need of a reset. Their season began against Palace and, seven weeks later, their first defeat, shootouts apart, came to Palace. It has been a false start to a season. And after five defeats in six games, a month in which they have not even drawn in England, let alone won, they face the prospect of more capital punishment.