Liverpool vs Man Utd: What Arne Slot must fix to get Reds firing again ahead of Sunday's Premier League showdown
Key Takeaways
- Liverpool has suffered three consecutive defeats for the first time under manager Arne Slot.
- The recent losses were narrow and occurred away against strong European opposition.
- Slot believes opponents have adapted their tactics, moving away from attacking Liverpool to focusing on counter-attacks and exploiting errors.
- There has been a noticeable drop in Liverpool's attacking output and defensive assurance since the start of the year.
- The club spent a British-record £116.5m on Florian Wirtz, partly to address these tactical issues.
Arne Slot is facing significant challenges as Liverpool enters the international break following three consecutive defeats for the first time in his managerial tenure, with a crucial match against Manchester United looming. These recent narrow losses, two of which came in stoppage time, occurred away against high-caliber teams like Crystal Palace, Galatasaray, and Chelsea. While Liverpool benefited from late winners in their first five Premier League games, these victories now appear to mask deeper cracks in the team's performance structure. Slot has observed a trend from the latter half of last season where opponents stopped attacking Liverpool, instead focusing on counter-attacks or capitalizing on individual errors, which have been frequent lately. This has resulted in a noticeable decline in the champions' attacking prowess and defensive stability since the new year. Slot attributes some of the club's significant summer spending, including the British-record £116.5m acquisition of Florian Wirtz, to addressing these evolving tactical challenges posed by opposing teams.
