{"id":443291,"date":"2025-09-22T12:48:22","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T12:48:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/443291\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T12:48:22","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T12:48:22","slug":"liverpool-have-found-the-new-thierry-henry-but-arne-slot-must-fix-persistent-problem-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/443291\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool have found the new Thierry Henry but Arne Slot must fix persistent problem now"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first part of John Aldridge’s Liverpool ECHO column assesses Saturday’s 2-1 win over Everton and the performance of Hugo Ekitike\"John<\/p>\n

The Liverpool FC, Tranmere and Republic of Ireland great, Aldo’s lively and opinionated weekly column on LFC is a must read for all Reds fans.<\/p>\n

\"HugoHugo Ekitike scored the winner against Everton on Saturday<\/p>\n

The Merseyside derby was a similar tale to the one we’ve seen already this season for Liverpool. We seem to be stuck in something of a timewarp at the moment the way these games are following the same patterns every week.<\/p>\n

Once again, Arne Slot’s men looked in full control<\/a> with a two-goal lead and took their foot off the gas and were left having to dig deep to get a big result. The only difference this time was that a late goal wasn’t needed for a change.<\/p>\n

I thought Liverpool made a brilliant start against their old rivals in Everton and they looked at half time as though they were going to go on and get the third and fourth goals that would have really put the game to bed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Mohamed Salah told he ‘deserves’ Ballon d’Or despite Jamie Carragher prediction<\/a>READ MORE: Liverpool’s long-term succession plan to begin as Arne Slot confronts Alexander Isak question<\/a><\/p>\n

But full credit to Everton who responded really well<\/a> after the break and when Idrissa Gueye smashes one in, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one left thinking: here we go again.<\/p>\n

For whatever reason, Liverpool aren’t learning their lesson at the moment and teams still feel as though they are well in the game at 2-0 down, forcing their way back into things.<\/p>\n

We’ve seen it against Bournemouth, Newcastle, Atletico Madrid and Everton came to close to making it 2-2 on the day, which would have been the fourth time already that the Reds would have thrown away a lead of two goals.<\/p>\n

Slot will know his team can’t keep getting away with and that is something they are going to have to address behind the scenes. It needs figuring out because it will come back to bite them if they don’t.<\/p>\n

One of the features of the second half was just how sloppy Liverpool got, I don’t remember seeing them so uncertain in possession, they seemed to just keep giving it away. Curtis Jones came on and made it a bit more secure in that sense and it was good to see him back out there because he is someone who can be trusted; wherever he takes the ball, he always takes care of it.<\/p>\n

Maybe the team are taking it down a level or two once they are in the lead in an effort to preserve energy for the long term but when they are at full pelt, with the tempo up, they are brilliant to watch. You just hope they can keep at those levels for longer to put games to bed much sooner in the next few weeks.<\/p>\n

A derby win is always a great way to enjoy any weekend but I am sure Slot had the cherry on the cake with Arsenal and Manchester City drawing on Sunday. That was the perfect result to top off an excellent week at Anfield.<\/p>\n

Impressive Ekitike reminds me of a young Henry<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hugo Ekitike had made a blinding start to his Liverpool career and the biggest compliment you can pay him is that he didn’t look overawed on Merseyside derby day, scoring his fourth goal for the Reds.<\/p>\n

The France international has already been likened to a young Thierry Henry and you have to say that is high praise indeed, which just shows you how well he has settled since his big-money move from Eintracht Frankfurt.<\/p>\n

He is getting better and better and in today’s market, in this sort of form, you have to say the fee paid to Frankfurt, which could rise to \u00a379m, is a bit of a snip.<\/p>\n

He is leading the line at the moment while Alexander Isak gets up to 100% and Arne Slot has a welcome conundrum there when both are fully fit and firing. It must be the envy of all other managers having to pick one of those two to start up top.<\/p>\n

But Ekitike also has a versatile side to his game and I am looking forward to seeing what he contributes on the left side when given the chance and in particular on the right when Mohamed Salah is at the Africa Cup of Nations.<\/p>\n

With Ekitike, Salah and Isak all available, Cody Gakpo there too alongside Florian Wirtz, young Rio Ngumoha and Federico Chiesa, it’s an embarrassment of riches for Slot up front and as an Everton mate of mine told me on Saturday afternoon, even Liverpool’s bench has got the opposition scared stiff at the moment. Long may that continue.<\/p>\n

Carabao Cup team will show real strength in depth<\/strong><\/p>\n

Changes will be expected from Arne Slot when Liverpool get their Carabao Cup campaign underway to Southampton on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

Slot already suggested five or six of his big guns<\/a> will be rested and that is totally understandable as he aims to keep so many of them fit and fresh. But those changes won’t mean a huge drop in quality, you’ve only got to look at who will likely be starting to see just how frightening Liverpool’s squad is at the moment.<\/p>\n

We’re expecting games for the likes of Giorgi Mamardashvili, young Italian defender Giovanni Leoni, Andy Robertson will be the captain, I’m sure.<\/p>\n

Then you have the likes of Curtis Jones, Wataru Endo and Federico Chiesa. Throw in exciting teenager Rio Ngumoha and maybe some minutes for a certain Alexander Isak and it is proof that the Reds have a massively talented squad with great strength in depth.<\/p>\n

It must be worrying for other teams when they see what Liverpool are able to do with their match-day squads when they have so few injuries.<\/p>\n

Thank you for golf day support<\/strong><\/p>\n

I wanted to use the final part of this week’s column to say a huge thank you to everyone who helped at the recent John Aldridge Classic golf day in Portugal.<\/p>\n

Now in its 22nd year, the event, in conjunction with the Algarve-based Tomorrow Magazine, was a roaring success, which raised around \u00a330,000 for a number of children’s charities that are close to my heart.<\/p>\n

Thank you to Liverpool FC and those from the club who donated auction items which was a massive help towards raising the sum on the day. It’s an event I am hugely passionate about and it’s a day that is always enjoyed by those who attend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first part of John Aldridge’s Liverpool ECHO column assesses Saturday’s 2-1 win over Everton and the performance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,4884,5759,179,763,1466,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-443291","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-hugo-ekitike","12":"tag-liverpool","13":"tag-liverpool-fc","14":"tag-merseyside-derby","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115248032037153112","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}