{"id":474767,"date":"2025-10-05T01:10:23","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T01:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/474767\/"},"modified":"2025-10-05T01:10:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T01:10:23","slug":"this-liverpool-team-doesnt-make-sense-and-latest-defeat-points-to-something-bigger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/474767\/","title":{"rendered":"This Liverpool team doesn\u2019t make sense and latest defeat points to something bigger"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Just when the stage seemed set for a launch moment from Liverpool\u2019<\/a>s new stars, Chelsea\u2019<\/a>s great hope provided one. Just when the Premier League champions looked like they could snatch another stoppage-time winner, Estevao gave Chelsea what their late siege deserved. Liverpool got what was coming. This was of course the second time in a week that they have lost 2-1 to a late goal, to make it a third successive defeat.<\/p>\n

Liverpool are now very much in a classic Premier League crisis. Chelsea are out of one, as Enzo Maresca<\/a> almost symbolised with that Jose Mourinho-style run down the touchline <\/a>to celebrate the winner.<\/p>\n

That resulted in yet another red card, this time for the manager himself, but it\u2019s hard to think that anyone will care too much about that. Everything is now so much clearer at Chelsea going into the international break.<\/p>\n

\"Estevao<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Estevao seized the moment to after scoring Chelsea\u2019s 95th minute winner (Action Images via Reuters)<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t just apply to results. It\u2019s also how they got there.<\/p>\n

As the game ticked into the final half-hour, and Liverpool were building some momentum following Cody Gakpo\u2019s equaliser, Maresca knew exactly what he had to do with his substitutes. That\u2019s all the more impressive given that Slot himself mentioned after the game that Chelsea had eight players out, and it could be a \u201cpositive\u201d for them.<\/p>\n

Instead, Romeo Lavia started to stem midfield, and ensure Chelsea were driving forward again. Jorrel Hato offered a required stability in defence. Estevao, from 75 minutes, was ready to seize the occasion.<\/p>\n

There were more than enough occasions when the young Brazilian seized the ball from a Liverpool player lax in possession, something that was a feature of the game.<\/p>\n

Against that, Slot\u2019s changes seemed to cede the game. They finished with two midfielders in the back four. That just can\u2019t work in a match in the balance like this.<\/p>\n

People can of course point to available personnel, and the pattern of the game, but there is maybe something much bigger.<\/p>\n

This Liverpool don\u2019t yet make sense in the same way. When you look at the available players, and particularly the expense of the new attackers, it\u2019s actually hard to see what the obvious best formation is.<\/p>\n

Florian Wirtz<\/a>, initially dropped, is used at the tip of midfield but hasn\u2019t yet physically adapted to the position in this league. Mohamed Salah<\/a> seems to be missing Trent Alexander-Arnold, and hasn\u2019t yet synced with a changing frontline. From all that, the balance of the team looks wrong, and opposition sides can run right through their centre.<\/p>\n

This was what happened with Moises Caicedo<\/a>\u2019s sensational opening goal. The strike was superb and seemed to pick up speed as it rocketed towards the top corner, but that was in considerable contrast to how easy Liverpool made it for him by opening up the space. Caicedo was able to slip past Alexis Mac Allister and even take another set-up touch before he struck.<\/p>\n

\"Caicedo<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Caicedo scores a stunning goal to give Chelsea the lead (PA)<\/p>\n

Liverpool shouldn\u2019t have allowed it.<\/p>\n

There are multiple caveats to this, of course, which is why we obviously aren\u2019t talking about a true \u201ccrisis\u201d. Isak will obviously get fit and come good. Wirtz will adapt. Liverpool will instantly start to look better, and Slot\u2019s new formation will be more easily facilitated. It shouldn\u2019t be forgotten this is also a team coping with grief, after the Diogo Jota tragedy.<\/p>\n

And they\u2019re still just a point off top.<\/p>\n

But that comes after being five points clear a few weeks ago, and after so many warning signs.<\/p>\n

All of this was coming. It\u2019s always the other side of late goals, too, in how a regular need for them at once showcases character but also flaws.<\/p>\n

Liverpool are now suffering the other side, in how they\u2019re starting to concede such moments.<\/p>\n

Hence, all of these caveats can co-exist with the fact the team doesn\u2019t look right at the moment. It doesn\u2019t make sense.<\/p>\n

The disconnect could be seen in the number of basic bad passes. Over half the team were responsible for such moments, sometimes playing the ball several yards beyond intended targets or straight out of play.<\/p>\n

There was an irony to one of those touches actually setting up Liverpool\u2019s equaliser. Isak attempted to take the ball under control, only to divert it towards goal. Gakpo took the chance.<\/p>\n

\"Liverpool<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Liverpool could not take advantage after Gakpo scrambled in an equalising goal (Liverpool FC via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The greater significance is that there was a randomness about it. Liverpool look like a team looking for connections rather than knowing them.<\/p>\n

Hence more contrasts like Salah offering one brilliant ball for Isak, but also so many bad finishes; or Wirtz producing that sublime turn to set up the Egyptian but then do little else.<\/p>\n

Right now, rather than collective integration, they\u2019ve got individual instinct. Slot did reference some of the possible reasons for this after the game, as he said that the Champions League schedule ensured he didn\u2019t have the same time to train.<\/p>\n

He also insisted that a draw would have been much more deserved.<\/p>\n

Maresca might have said otherwise, but his red card ensured he couldn\u2019t speak to media. To give Chelsea their due, too, it is often said there\u2019s an element of this \u201crandomness\u201d about their recruitment. The squad doesn\u2019t seem to be built towards the same vision that Liverpool\u2019s does.<\/p>\n

And yet, as this game entered its crucial stages, it was Maresca that had a better idea of what to do.<\/p>\n

\"Maresca<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Maresca was sent off for a second yellow card after sprinting down the touchline in celebration (PA)<\/p>\n

Malo Gusto had already been an early masterstroke in midfield. Chelsea went man-to-man when Liverpool were attacking, but Gusto often did the work of multiple men.<\/p>\n

Then, when Maresca had to change, despite limited options, he had a clarity. Estevao had a focus. Afterwards, all eyes were on him. His run for that winning goal was a natural follow-on from an all-energy display.<\/p>\n

Liverpool, despite the ampleness of their attacking options and extravagance of the summer spending, seemed short of ideas. They were mostly relying on rushes and moments.<\/p>\n

A coach as good as Slot is of course almost certain to fix this. The sudden risk is that Arsenal, after so much doubt, can go on the kind of run that Liverpool did last season.<\/p>\n

Slot may now be enduring the other side of that, too. The breaks aren\u2019t coming. It isn\u2019t fitting in the same way. This, consequently, was a scrambled late Chelsea win that still made a lot of sense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,4884,179,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-474767","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-liverpool","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115318897403291998","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474767","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=474767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}