My telephone was overheating in July and never simply because I used to be utilizing Apple Maps in an effort to navigate the humid setting of Hong Kong, looking for a lunch spot within the futuristic metropolis of sky-scrapers that makes Canary Wharf look outdated.
It was additionally taking place as a result of ping, ping, ping got here messages and posts on-line with a basic sense of fury at an article I had written. ‘Alexander Isak will probably be one of many signings of the summer season,’ it learn. ‘However shopping for defender Marc Guehi will probably be simply as – if no more – necessary.’
I used to be referred to as each title below the solar as, apparently, I used to be making an attempt to place the Reds off signing Isak. There’s a tangent we may fall into right here about how on-line idiots get nasty over a easy opinion a few recreation of soccer and take criticism of their membership personally, however we’ll save that.
Now, 4 months on from these musings on July 25, I ask the offended mob to suppose once more and rethink. Then and now, I nonetheless (possibly wrongly) imagine Isak will go on to be successful for Liverpool. Defensive frailties are a much bigger drawback, although.
Whether or not Isak will stay as much as his £125million price-tag or not, let’s wait and see, however he’ll come good. Most likely anyway. He’s signed for six years, not six months… class is everlasting, type is momentary and all that.
Sadly, although, we will solely analyse the right here and now. And proper now, enjoying with Isak is like enjoying with 10 males. He’s a passenger. The Swede appears to be like like an academy child drafted right into a males’s recreation, preventing towards the tide.
Alexander Isak (proper) has struggled since his £125million transfer to Liverpool throughout the summer season
However extra on Isak later. The 26-year-old striker will not be the principle drawback proper now. He’s considered one of many on an inventory that, if something, is just getting longer. We have now mentioned the previous ‘it may possibly’t go on like this, can it?’ quote from Mick McCarthy earlier than in these pages however, nicely, clearly it may possibly.
Eight defeats in 11 now, for those who had misplaced rely. A adverse objective distinction. A gaping hole between them and league leaders Arsenal. Sean Dyche talked about how his Nottingham Forest group did all of the ‘fundamentals’ and the previous Evertonian’s ex-rivals can not get any of these fundamentals proper.
Dyche’s successor throughout Merseyside, David Moyes, as soon as mentioned a fairly humorous quote when his Manchester United aspect have been in freefall which one considered this weekend. ‘We wish to move it higher, we wish to create extra probabilities and to defend higher,’ he mentioned.
So enhance all the things then. It’s the identical for Liverpool now. They can’t defend they usually can not put their probabilities away. Perhaps a few of that’s luck however, general, it’s a deep-lying drawback.
This defeat by Nottingham Forest was probably the most embarrassing of the Slot period and the second-half efficiency was the worst in current reminiscence. Not a single participant got here out of it with credit score however the worst of the bunch was Ibrahima Konate, not for the primary time this season.
The French defender final season was a formidable power alongside Virgil van Dijk. Run at us for those who dare, thou shalt not move. Now he’s a strolling, speaking mistake ready to occur. Assault us all you want, we’ll roll over and allow you to play fairly patterns by our again line.
Slot, although, has to date been reluctant to provide deputy defender Joe Gomez an opportunity within the XI. Absolutely the Englishman, the membership’s longest-serving participant, can not do any worse than Konate and deserves a recreation or two to show himself?
Liverpool missed out on signing Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace on the eleventh hour
Liverpool bought Jarell Quansah to Bayer Leverkusen in the summertime for £35m. He has since been a daily for the German aspect and is well liked by England boss Thomas Tuchel. Was it a mistake to promote him?
All of that is simple to say in hindsight, particularly because the Reds signed Italian defender Giovanni Leoni from Parma in August for £26m just for him to undergo an anterior cruciate ligament harm and be dominated out for the season. That’s nothing apart from rotten luck.
However what was not dangerous luck was Crystal Palace pulling the plug on a deal for Marc Guehi on the Eleventh-hour of Deadline Day on a transfer that was 99 per cent achieved. Liverpool had all summer season to signal the Palace captain however didn’t act till the ultimate days.
The very fact it was not a achieved deal till Deadline Day – handshakes had been made, medicals underway till Palace chairman Steve Parish pulled the plug – was resulting from Liverpool understanding the later they waited, the extra possible the Eagles could be to cut back their value.
Three months on, that dilly-dallying appears to be like expensive. As we wrote on the time, Guehi would stroll into this Liverpool XI. However then once more, so would most gamers within the Premier League based mostly on the performances of the final two months.
An try at a joke there, in fact, however it’s no joke to say most groups within the league look well-drilled and well-coached whereas Liverpool simply look clueless. Slot has credit score within the financial institution nonetheless however how lengthy earlier than questions have to be requested over his job safety?
For now, it’s safe. In any case, he’s a Premier League champion. Since being knocked out of the Champions League by Paris Saint-Germain in March, although, one thing has modified. They’ve received 14 of 30 video games in that point together with that defeat by the French aspect.
Scoring targets is an issue, too. Isak has misplaced each single league begin and, 82 days into his Liverpool profession, one objective within the Carabao Cup towards second-tier Southampton is simply not ok. Sure, he has mitigating elements however once you value £125m, it’s laborious to seek out sympathy.
Stress is rising on Arne Slot with a bit of Liverpool followers calling for his head
There’s a catch 22 with Isak: do not play him and he doesn’t get match sharpness, play him and he’s simply not ok but. Hugo Ekitike’s early-season type has dipped however the Frenchman, who scored over the worldwide break, will need to have been irked to overlook out.
Have groups simply labored out methods to play towards Liverpool? Effectively, sure, as Slot worryingly admitted at Brentford a month in the past. That defeat to the Bees was the worst of the run however this 3-0 by the hands of Forest now takes that tag given it was at so-called fortress Anfield.
Groups used to concern coming to Liverpool. Now the champions simply bend over and take their beating. Slot took English soccer by storm however now could be blown over a number of occasions a month and a few followers are calling for his head.
Are they proper or incorrect? A month in the past you’d name these supporters bonkers, now they’re nonetheless maybe untimely however not utterly mad. Liverpool, it’s value saying, nonetheless imagine he’s the person to steer them out of this spiral.
Slot described Liverpool’s current type as a ‘dangerous cocktail’ of lacking their very own probabilities and conceding with each alternative on the different finish. Honest sufficient, possibly, but when outcomes don’t enhance then he’ll want a cocktail of some very sturdy stuff.
