Liverpool are heading towards a real crisis in the Premier League this season.
Arne Slot may have thought his nightmare run was over when his side beat Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League until the whistle blew on their fourth consecutive loss in the top-flight to Brentford.
The game ended 3-2 with the Reds looking like the second-best team on the pitch by a mile all night as Keith Andrews exposed the flaws that have been ever apparent in their previous losses.
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Where Liverpool have struggled this season is in the defence, with Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate’s usually reliable partnership being undone by mistakes from both men.
It has been frustrating to watch both men caught out on multiple occasions this season, as both of them are trying to make up for the awful decisions they have made to no avail.
Photo by Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty ImagesMicah Richards says the midfield is affecting Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate
There are different reasons as to why it has not been working this season, and it is clear that one issue is the fact that Liverpool are playing a higher line than their title-winning season, which exposes them to long balls.
Micah Richards, though, believes another key aspect of their failure to keep defensive consistency between van Dijk and Konate is the midfield three’s changes from last season.
The former Manchester City star pointed out that the switch from the usual midfield three of Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, and Ryan Gravenberch has upset the balance of the defence and left the two centre-halves struggling.
Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, Richards explained: “(van Dijk and Konate were awful) Yeah, they were. And I think what we’re seeing now is that van Dijk needs help. How many times in previous seasons has Van Dijk bailed them out and you look at partnerships, and we’ve always talked about Van Dijk and how good he is.
“He needs Konate to bail him out at the moment and that’s not happening. So you can’t have two centre halves not playing well at the same time.
“Well, if you look at the tactical view, and Al sort of brushed over it there when he made his point, it’s midfield. It’s the midfield area. Mac Allister was protection for them. Gravenberch was protection, and Szoboszlai had legs last season.
“Now it’s completely different. They’re trying to go with Curtis Jones, a very good player, but he’s not got the defensive qualities of the other midfielders… It’s energy in midfield why Liverpool were so consistent.”
Arne Slot’s Liverpool struggles will continue this week
While there is still time to turn this season around quite drastically, the woes for Slot and his team will continue for a week or two longer.
They host Crystal Palace in the League Cup, who have already beaten them in the Community Shield and the league, with the Aston Villa game set to follow.
Both are teams that will expose the already glaring issues of this Liverpool side to their advantage because they can play that long type of football so well.
Unless there is a dramatic shift in their defensive work or Slot’s tactics, their nightmare run may just continue well into November.