Five reasons for caution as Liverpool fans despite record-breaking Arne Slot start
Everything’s coming up roses for Liverpool under Arne Slot, who became the first Reds boss to win eight of his first nine games in charge of the club after victory over Bologna on Wednesday.
Quite the feat for a manager who took on The Impossible Job of replacing Jurgen Klopp, who was clearly – if anything – holding them back.
But we take our role as purveyors of doom very seriously here at Football365 and in an attempt to wipe the smiles off Liverpool faces we’ve come up with five reasons for the fans not to be quite so optimistic after the first couple of months of Slot rule.
Yet to play a ‘top’ team
Our absolute favourite Arne Slot trait is his bluntness. Asked about Alisson’s brilliance, he said: “He shouldn’t have to make saves.” Asked about Dominik Szoboszlai’s form, he said: “He needs to up his numbers for an attacking midfielder.” Asked about Luis Diaz’s flying start to the season, he said: “Let’s see if he can continue scoring against top sides.”
He manages to appear both approachable and wonderfully dour at the same time. And it’s got to be good news for Liverpool that he’s taking their excellent start to the season and the acclaim he’s been given with a pinch of salt, in the knowledge that they’re yet to be truly tested.
Throwing shade brilliantly at Manchester United and Erik ten Hag in the process, Slot claimed his side are yet to face a “top” team this season ahead of another relatively comfortable win, this time over Bologna, who also can’t be classed as such.
They’re top of the league having taken 15 points from a possible 18, they’ve won both Champions League games and eased through to the fourth round of the Carabao Cup. But while they can only beat what’s put in front of them, given the incredibly soft landing Slot’s been handed at the start of his Liverpool tenure by virtue of the fixture list, his record-breaking record amounts to no more than a par score, and he knows it.
The worst run of fixtures in history
Our advice to Liverpool fans would be to enjoy what looks likely to be another stress-free game on Saturday, away to winless Crystal Palace, before a hellish run of fixtures which barely lets up between now and Christmas. It really is extraordinary.
They play the English champions, the German champions, the Spanish and European champions, Chelsea, Arsenal, RB Leipzig, Girona, Brighton (both in the league and Carabao Cup), Aston Villa, Newcastle and Tottenham, with one of three ‘easy’ fixtures in that time the Merseyside derby at Goodison, along with Southampton and high-flying Fulham.
We genuinely don’t think there has ever been a more difficult run of games for any team ever in the history of football.
MORE LIVERPOOL COVERAGE ON F365
👉 Liverpool boosted by Real Madrid ‘massive surprise’ as Tottenham ‘fear’ losing £54m ‘alternative’
👉 Liverpool hero reveals ‘final straw’ under Jurgen Klopp that forced exit – ‘The penny dropped’
👉 Big Three? It’s a Big One but the Man City era ‘will end’
‘Mediocre’ football?
In that same pre-Bologna press conference Slot made reference to those sterner tests to come, insisting “we definitely have to improve if we want to stay where we are with the fixture list that’s coming up”, adding that he “will not accept mediocrity”.
Slot said defeat at home to Nottingham Forest was “unbelievable” and what was particularly telling in that game was the relative ease with which Nuno Espirito Santo’s side prevented Liverpool from creating chances despite them having 70% of the ball.
An outlier in terms of the result but the Liverpool boss also wasn’t at all pleased with the frequency with which his side gave the ball away in the 2-1 win over Wolves last time out in the Premier League and there have been periods like that in many of the games Liverpool have played this season, in which their intensity drops and better teams – like the many they’re set to face in the next three months – may well have punished them.
Burn-out
Not so much a problem when everyone’s fit and playing well, but with Alisson and Andy Robertson chief among Premier League players calling for governing bodies to consider the effect of packed fixture lists on their physical and mental wellbeing, they should perhaps be of a mind to air their grievances a little closer to home.
Arne Slot has made just five changes to his starting line-up in Liverpool’s eight games in the Premier League and Champions League this season. Six players have started all eight, and two of those players – Mohamed Salah and Alexis Mac Allister – were inexplicably handed 30-minute cameos in the 5-1 win over West Ham in the Carabao Cup.
Assuming a Liverpool player will also feature in every game for their country during the international breaks, they could play 21 games before the end of the year, just less than one every four days.
Against whom does Slot plan to rest his key players? Southampton, Fulham, maybe Girona, but what if they’ve lost – likely to happen at some point given the opposition they’ve got to face – just before those relatively easy fixtures? Liverpool are in real danger of burn-out.
The contracts
We’ll bore you with it until they sign new deals, or indeed don’t. Some suggest the fact that Trent Alexnader-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah are yet to agree new terms suggests they won’t at any point this season, which is plainly nonsense. But it is odd, certainly in the case of Salah as of last month, that discussions are yet to begin.
Jude Bellingham is calling to Trent from Madrid, a big Saudi payday will remain in the offing for Salah and Van Dijk could still easily attract a European giant valuing experience for a Champions League push. None of them will be short of options if Liverpool don’t put new contracts on the table.
While age will be among the considerations when it comes to Van Dijk and Salah, neither has shown any sign this season that they’re on the downward slope of their careers, and with them and Alexander-Arnold still stalwarts and arguably the three most important players in the team, extensions feel like a no-brainer.
