Alan Shearer fears Liverpool are suffering mental fatigue owing to the tragic loss of teammate Diogo Jota after naming four aspects of their defeat to Galatasaray in the Champions League that concern him, while Jamie Carragher has bluntly assessed the struggles of Florian Wirtz.<\/p>\n
The Reds went into their UCL clash at RAMS Park, having suffered a first Premier League defeat of the season against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday. But in a performance that never got out of second gear, Liverpool<\/a> lost for the second successive game after Victor Osimhen\u2019s penalty \u2013 awarded controversially \u2013 condemned Slot\u2019s side to defeat in Istanbul.<\/p>\n Their second loss of the season came in their 10th match, whereas last season it took until 29 games before Slot\u2019s side were beaten for a second time.<\/p>\n And with Arsenal breathing down their necks in the title race, Slot will hope his side can bounce back to winning ways when they take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.<\/p>\n While he stopped short of calling the loss a \u201ccrisis\u201d, he did admit the Premier League champions were not in a good place right now and wondered if they were suffering after the tragic death of teammate Jota<\/a> back in early July.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have been miles off it,\u201d Shearer said in his co-commentary duties for Amazon Prime when asked by Jon Champion if he was concerned by the Reds\u2019 lacklustre performance.<\/p>\n \u201cI appreciate the pain that they had to go through losing a teammate in such tragic fashion, and you can\u2019t underestimate the stress and everything else that\u2019s put on players\u2019 minds \u2013 it is clearly weighing heavy \u2013 but in terms of performances and energy, no, they\u2019ve been miles off it!<\/p>\n \u201cSo yes, I am surprised given the money that they spent in the summer, bringing new players in.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not a crisis just yet. They lost on Saturday and have been poor tonight. They\u2019re in a great position in the league, but they have a lot of work to do.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not a crisis, but it\u2019s not been great either.\u201d<\/p>\n Picking out four aspects of their play that will worry Slot, Shearer added: \u201cThey\u2019ve looked nervous all over the park, losing possession and being very sloppy.\u201d<\/p>\n Champion added: \u201cThey are a long way off the well-oiled machine they were last season,\u201d with Shearer responding: \u201cThey have just not looked like scoring tonight and have not worked the goalkeeper at all.\u201d<\/p>\n ICYMI<\/strong> \ud83d\udd34\u00a0French media all rave over \u2018pop star\u2019 Liverpool binned this summer amid stunning \u2018prime Casemiro\u2019 claim<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Carragher laments another poor Florian Wirtz display<\/strong><\/p>\n Slot opted to start with the costly German playmaker Wirtz, who was relatively anonymous at Selhurst Park on Saturday and failed to make his presence felt on Tuesday evening once again.<\/p>\n It now means the \u00a3116m playmaker has just one assist \u2013 for Hugo Ekitike in the Community Shield \u2013 in nine Liverpool appearances to date.<\/p>\n While a period of adjustment should always be expected for a player moving to a new country, his struggles are bound to be a concern for Slot and getting the player back to his electric form shown while playing for Bayer Leverkusen will be important if the Reds are to have a successful season.<\/p>\n So far, though, he\u2019s not been at the races and Carragher fears Slot has a big problem to solve.<\/p>\n Speaking on CBS Sports Golazo, Carragher explained: \u201cThere are a few problems there that he\u2019s got to fix, and it\u2019ll be really interesting how he goes about it because he\u2019s spent a lot of money on certain players.<\/p>\n \u201cBut right now, I don\u2019t think the balance of the team is right, and the obvious one that stands out right now is Florian Wirtz. He\u2019s just not at the races at all.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a young boy coming into a new league. He\u2019s got plenty of time to go as a Liverpool player.<\/p>\n \u201cBut right now, I think he needs to come out of the team, Liverpool get back to what they were last season, and then go from there.\u201d<\/p>\n Wirtz was given an average score of 3.34 on BBC Sport<\/a>.<\/p>\n Latest Liverpool news: Konate exit fears grow as Reds identify replacement<\/strong><\/p>\n On the subject of Jota,\u00a0Slot has come clean on summer links to Victor Osimhen and\u00a0has revealed how the tragic passing of the Portuguese forward forced the Reds\u2019 hand in the transfer market<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, fresh reports in Spain claim Ibrahima Konate is on the brink of agreeing a free transfer move to Real Madrid at the end of the season, with a second source claiming Liverpool are well aware of his intentions and are ready to push hard to land their number one choice as his replacement<\/a>.<\/p>\n On the subject of Konate, it\u2019s claimed Liverpool must now fend off a new suitor in their quest to convince Konate to sign a new deal at Anfield.<\/p>\n