Liverpool has lost six of its last seven games, and has suffered four consecutive defeats in the Premier League. Next, the team will face the devilish schedule of Villa, Real Madrid, and Manchester City. "The Times" wrote that there are few signs that Slott is about to usher in a breakthrough moment.
On the contrary, the same problem has appeared again and again. Slott may have repeatedly said in the post-match press conference in recent weeks: "They deserved to win, we had to defend a lot of long balls and second balls, which is the opponent's strength." But in fact, this sentence appeared after losing to Newcastle in the League Cup final in March this year. Seven months later, Liverpool still has not found a solution.
Data shows that Slott's team is not unable to cope with high-altitude balls. They have won 179 of 317 aerial duels (56.5%). Only Manchester City in the Premier League has a higher success rate in aerial duels. Van Dijk has won more aerial duels than any other player in the league, with his partner Konate third. However, control of the second spot is clearly a long-standing problem, which exposes the flaws in the team's structure.
During Klopp's coaching, Liverpool paid great attention to physical and mental preparation without the ball in training. Henderson, Fabinho, Wijnaldum and others can maintain good condition and provide physical confrontation. Slott likes to have multiple players press forward, and it will be worth watching whether he is willing to settle down in order to seek more balance and stability. After losing to Newcastle in the League Cup final, people also began to question whether Liverpool needed to improve its physical confrontation capabilities. However, the signings in the summer window show that there is a negative attitude within the club.
Liverpool chose to strengthen their creativity and speed on the offensive end, spending 450 million pounds to sign 22-year-old Wirtz, 24-year-old Frimpong, 21-year-old Kyle Kez, 23-year-old Ekitic, 26-year-old Isaac, and 25-year-old goalkeepers Mamadashvili and 18-year-old Leoni. In addition, Liverpool have not spread their funds across more players, giving Slott reason to complain that the team does not have the depth of the squad like Manchester City. The age of the new signings ranges from 18 to 26 years old. It is expected within the club that these high-quality signings may take time to adapt to the team, but Liverpool's senior management did not expect the current situation, but their trust in Slott has not been tested yet.