Theo Walcott claims £75m Liverpool star looks 'an absolute shadow of a player'

Former Arsenal forward Theo Walcott (Picture: Getty)

Theo Walcott believes Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk looks ‘an absolute shadow of a player’ and said Arne Slot ’s side need to ‘forget about their egos’ if they are to get back to their best.

The defending champions won their opening five games of the new Premier League season, but a disastrous run of form now has them seventh in the table and seven points off leaders Arsenal .

The Reds suffered yet another loss at the weekend, a 3-2 defeat to Brentford , meaning they have won just one of their last six games in all competitions and have lost four on the bounce in the league.

Despite the departures of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Luis Diaz, Liverpool went some way to strengthening their squad by spending almost £450million in the summer window.

However, the high-profile signings of Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak are yet to pay dividends, and have left Slot constantly chopping and changing as he looks to find a set-up which gets the best out of his new-look squad.

The fixtures continue to come thick and fast for the Reds, with a Carabao Cup tie against Crystal Palace on Wednesday, before games against Aston Villa, Real Madrid and Manchester City before the international break.

And Walcott said Slot must get his side focusing on the basics ahead of what could prove a pivotal few weeks in the Dutchman’s reign on Merseyside.

Arne Slot’s side have lost four in a row in the Premier League (Picture: Getty)

‘I feel that they are overthinking quite a lot and that comes down to the manager,’ Walcott said on It’s Called Soccer .

‘When they signed loads of players we all went ‘Oh they are going to win the league, they’ve signed all these players’ and it was like a fantasy league.

‘Now when you look at the bigger picture and try to implement your style onto a team that didn’t actually have to change that much because it wasn’t broken.

Virgil van Dijk has come in for scrutiny (Picture: Getty)

‘Trying to implement five, six, seven new players into a title-winning team doesn’t happen often.

‘You don’t have to tweak too much when you win the league, you really don’t, and I think there are players who aren’t themselves because they are overthinking and they are not playing as a team.

‘They are a bunch of individuals right now, too many egos, they need to separate that and try and focus on getting back to basics.’

@metrosportuk Blaming losing on spending £450m 🤔 Liverpool manager Arne Slot blames his side’s poor form on the fact that they bought so many new players in the summer transfer window, following their 3-2 defeat to Brentford. #arneslot #liverpool #brentford #pressconference #premierleague ♬ original sound – Metro Sport – Metro Sport

Analysing Liverpool’s deficiencies further, Walcott pinpointed the spine of the team as a notable concern, particularly the centre-back partnership of Van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate.

‘You have Virgil van Dijk who looks an absolute shadow of a player, Konate has been up and down,’ the former Arsenal forward added. ‘There is no structure to the way they play now, there’s no balance.

‘Virgil used to have a solid brick in front of him in Gravenberch but now he has no one at times and you have players who don’t want to comit to tackles.

‘The physical side of it has gone out of the window, so for me Liverpool need to go back to basics and forget about the egos because that is a big problem for me right now.’

Slot opted not to hold a press conference to preview Wednesday’s cup tie against Palace, with club’s not contractually obliged to have one before Carabao Cup matches.

The Dutchman decided to do the same thing prior to last month’s third-round win against Southampton.

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