LONDON — Oh for the halcyon era of eight days ago. Before Selhurst Park, Rams Park and Stamford Bridge, Liverpool had reasons to believe. They had not been playing to their collective level, but no matter. They had continually found ways to win. Maybe they could keep getting away with it?
Or perhaps when your games keep going into the 90th minute and beyond you might discover that there is nothing special about Slottage Time, that if the other team are still in it at the death they can swing a haymaker or two as well. And so the champions find themselves beaten for the third time in a row, all of them games in which those same issues from the winning run have reared their head. We are now nearly 20% of the way through the season and Liverpool look like a dramatically inferior version of their title winning side.
That is all the more worrying when Arne Slot gravitated back towards that XI as much as he could tonight. In practical terms that meant Florian Wirtz dropping out after a furore over what might not have been anything more than his team mates missing the chances he created for them. Certainly, moving Dominik Szoboszlai to the number 10 did nothing for Liverpool off the ball, Moises Caicedo cruising through midfield before larruping in from range to give Chelsea an early lead.
It was the best of a handful of chances Chelsea created until late on, but crucially Liverpool never really got close — one blocked shot for Szoboszlai aside — until Slot turned to Wirtz at the break. Szoboszlai shifted to right back and a cross on the overlap was flicked on to Cody Gakpo by an Alexander Isak mistouch and all of a sudden the match was tied.
The stage seemed set for another late special. After all, eight goals had been scored after the 80th minute in the Reds’ first six games of the season. There was only one team, however, who seemed to believe that number nine was coming. Chelsea attacked and attacked and attacked, targeting the weak spot on the Liverpool right, the half defended by Szobaslai and after another flurry of changes either Ryan Gravenberch or Wataru Endo. After what seemed a host of crosses crying out for a Blue shirt Estevao gambled on a back post run as Chelsea broke down Liverpool’s right, hooking in at close range to inflict a third defeat in a row on Slot.
That has never happened before in his Liverpool tenure and the worry is that the woes might not stop yet. For a team who sit second in the table, at least until Crystal Palace play on Sunday, there seem to be profound issues that could not be addressed even by reverting back to almost the nearest approximation of last season’s team that Slot could manage. They start at the end of this game:
1. Missing Alexander-Arnold in every way
It was reasonable to assume that, after Trent Alexander-Arnold confirmed what the football world had long since knew was happening and made his move to Real Madrid, by this stage of the season Liverpool would not have found a way to replace their right back’s ball progression and creativity. Alexander-Arnold is one of a handful of players who can claim to be the best passer on the planet. The likes of Gravenberch and Virgil van Dijk are progressing the ball about as frequently this season as they did last, what is missing is the number one passer, one who can have a defense reeling with one sweep of his foot. That much was all the more apparent without Wirtz, who at least delivered invention around the final third.
What was not so reasonable to assume, at least before Jeremie Frimpong signed, was that by this stage of the season Liverpool would not have found a way to replace the defense Alexander-Arnold offered. That might generously have been termed improving in his final years, but it was better than what Conor Bradley offered for 45 trying minutes under Alejandro Garnacho’s examination. Withdrawn so as to avoid getting a second yellow he might have narrowly avoided, the 22-year-old was replaced in defense by Szoboszlai, who might have offered an approximation of Alexander-Arnold’s attacking qualities with the goal that led to the equalizer but was not able to slow the tide down his right.
If anything it got worse. Szoboszlai was flat-footed when passes were sprayed out to his flank and found himself overwhelmed after Jamie Gittens‘ introduction. He was totally static and poorly positioned when Enzo Fernandez slide a ball past him for Marc Cucurella to provide the assist for Estevao. The Liverpool of years gone by knew how to protect their weak link at right back; even the introduction of Wataru Endo to sit in that position didn’t ease the pressure on that area of the pitch. Once more Ibrahima Konate looked a shadow of the man who once covered for Alexander-Arnold.
Chelsea knew this was where their joy would come. “We tried to attack always [that side] because we know Salah is always ready to play counter-attack,” said Cucurella. “So we practiced, and the manager told us the spaces might be there.” Liverpool failed to react in game and it is hard to see how they can squash this issue more broadly.
2. Salah’s slide
There is one way Liverpool have mitigated the danger posed to their right back. and until quite recently and it was rather effective. Let your left back overlapped, they said to opponents. Salah will be waiting up field if you make the slightest mistake. Only a few months ago, allowing him to attack open space was a death knell. Right now, maybe it is a gamble worth taking.
Since Liverpool’s elimination from the Champions League Salah has been nothing like his imperious best. Sixteen Premier League games have delivered four goals (one a penalty) and three assists, a drop of 3.7 shots per 90 to 2.2, a broader cratering of his performances that suggests that the Egyptian king might have delivered his last elite season last year in pursuit of one more title, one more big contract.
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The best that could be said of this performance was that there one or two momentary flashes of the old Salah. An outside of the boot cross asked a lot of Alexander Isak, leaning back and heading over. He anticipated that Wirtz would find a way to get the ball to him moments into the second half but drove wide.
Slot insisted he could see signs in the four chances he created and two shots he took. “Did he create today so much because he didn’t play in the week [against Galatasaray, where he was a substitute], or did he miss the chances because he missed a bit of sharpness? We brought him many times in the positions he’d like to be in. Today he had many opportunities to do what he’s done so often… It’s not like every chance he gets is always a goal, we feel like it is because of what he did last season, but he can have a game where he has chances in promising positions.”
And of course even at his relentless best 12 months ago Salah didn’t score everything. It sure felt like it though, didn’t it? That was what took Liverpool’s dark horses five furlongs clear. Inevitably they will be a shadow of their former selves if their best player is.
3. Defending from the front
It is curious to see that Liverpool allow fewer passes per defensive action and a lower pass completion for their opponents this season than last. Perhaps that reflects the fact that they are not getting out in front in games and easing off the energy early on. When you invariably have to work till the last minute you are inevitably going to be chasing the ball for a lot longer. That doesn’t mean they are defending well.
Liverpool are averaging about 10% fewer recoveries in the attacking third, no wonder when they have swapped out the diligent pressing Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez while also losing Diogo Jota in tragic circumstances. Those were all players who would do the hard yards without the ball last season, often covering for a more lackadaisical approach by Salah, who was entitled to save his energy for winning time. Isak seems intent on doing the same, however, and it was frequently staggering how easy it was for Benoit Badiashile to pick a pass through the lines and into the feet of Joao Pedro.
Get through that initial barrier and Liverpool seemed unclear what came next. A quick sideways flick from Malo Gusto in midfield and Caicedo was running into open space. Alexis Mac Allister might be some way from full fitness, in such circumstances someone else should at least be scrabbling into that space. From front to back in the first half in particular there was a remarkable lack of intensity to Liverpool’s play. Was this team really coached by Jurgen Klopp as recently as 18 months ago? Even in their best moments, the visitors could not match Chelsea for aggression.
Their hosts were there to be got at. By the end of this game they were missing six central defensive options, Reece James tasked with holding the fort alongside Jorrel Hato with starters Badiashile and Josh Acheampong withdrawn to preserve their fitness for the weeks ahead. In other words, Chelsea were there to be discombobulated by a bit of oomph when they had the ball. Liverpool never looked like showing that. For all the issues laid out above, that might be the most worrying for Slot.
