![\"Paul](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_New-profile-pic.jpg\")
<\/p>\nOur Liverpool fans’ jury return after a bad week for Arne Slot and his players got worse with another injury-time defeat, this time at Chelsea<\/p>\n
Paul Wheelock is the head of sport at the Liverpool ECHO, overseeing Everton FC and Liverpool FC coverage, having previously held the position of content editor and Blood Red: Liverpool FC podcast and video editor. He used to be a football club correspondent, reporting on Blackburn Rovers for the Lancashire Telegraph and Chester FC for the Chester Chronicle.<\/p>\n
![\"LONDON,](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1_GettyImages-2237750506.jpg\")
Arne Slot, head coach of Liverpool, has some thinking to do(Image: Tom Dulat\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
It’s was a bruising week for Liverpool. Heart-breaking, late Premier League defeats at Crystal Palace and Chelsea, sandwiched between a disappointing Champions League reverse at Galatasaray, means Arne Slot has been left to mull over losing three successive games for the first time as Reds boss.<\/p>\n
The silver lining is that the Galatasaray loss was not damaging and, while Arsenal may have moved top of the Premier League table, the defending champions, after a difficult run of fixtures to start the season, and after a challenging summer, remain just one point off the pace.<\/p>\n
But perhaps the international break has come at the right time for Slot<\/a> and his players. But what do our Liverpool<\/a> fans’ jury think?<\/p>\n OPINION<\/p>\n The mini wobble continues. I was hoping this funk in performance would be arrested by now, but it is a funk that was seeping undetected through the team from the very start of the season.<\/p>\n Although he has made some important contributions this year, on any view, Mohamed Salah<\/a> is not at his best. He looks a little lost, and he has lost the ability to finish in recent games. A bold statement I know, but the Egyptian King may need some respite, some time on the sidelines to freshen up.<\/p>\n I can\u2019t remember a time when Salah has spent time as a sub, which perhaps further strengthens the case for some rest. I would like to see Hugo Ekitike<\/a> and Alexander Isak<\/a> lead the front line, with Florian Wirtz<\/a> behind. It\u2019s a tweak to our usual line-up, but Ekitike and Isak are robust in the press and killers in the box. That\u2019s one of the striking omissions from Salah\u2019s games this year: he doesn\u2019t seem to be working back or pressing as much.<\/p>\n Another star Liverpool player who is underperforming at the moment is Alexis Mac Allister<\/a>. He has been a diamond in the team for so long, but he looks tired, or even injured, to the extent that he has been a passenger in games.<\/p>\n I have never considered that Curtis Jones<\/a> is a top midfielder, or a midfielder who should be in the line up each week, but what he will give the team is hard work and pressing.<\/p>\n Together with Dominik Szoboszlai<\/a> and Ryan Gravenberch<\/a>, I wonder whether this combination as a short-term fix may make us a bit more defensively stable. It was like the Chelsea players were passing through straw men in midfield at the weekend.<\/p>\n Keeping with the gloomy, pessimistic theme this week, is there also a case for Joe Gomez<\/a> to be given a run in next to Virgil van Dijk<\/a>? We had all hoped that Ibrahima Konate<\/a> would return to his previous heights, but if anything, he looks to be shrinking in performance.<\/p>\n Arne Slot needs to get the team alchemy right, and he needs to do it soon.<\/p>\n James Noble<\/strong><\/p>\n This is one of those international breaks that potentially comes at a good time for Liverpool. Off the back of those three successive defeats at Crystal Palace, Galatasaray and Chelsea, a change in rhythm and, in the case of many of the players, scenery hardly feels the worst thing.<\/p>\n Mohamed Salah\u2019s two goals on Wednesday<\/a> helping Egypt to a 3-0 victory over Djibouti and World Cup qualification demonstrates some of those potential upsides. The interlude can also be a source of perspective, making it that bit easier to contextualise things and weigh up where we stand.<\/p>\n One point off the top of the Premier League and three points from a possible six in the league phase of the Champions League is a context we\u2019ll aim to improve, but is also a decent foundation to build on.<\/p>\n Individual performances, and structural and tactical questions can become that bit less all-consuming, that bit easier to observe and assess with some distance with a break. Florian Wirtz<\/a> and Alexander Isak<\/a> offered promising signs at Stamford Bridge and elsewhere too, and there are other elements of encouragement to lean into.<\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1760069478_827_1_Blank-2-Grids-Collage.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Author](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0_MeeeePNG.png\")
Paul GorstREAD MORE: Florian Wirtz has already told Liverpool where to play him as he makes ‘sad’ claim about transfer<\/a>Andrew Cullen<\/strong><\/p>\n