Let’s make no mistake about it: Liverpool were outfought and outthought against Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium. That’s four Premier League defeats in a row for Arne Slot’s side, and the crisis has very much deepened.
Will it get worse? Here is a team so well equipped for the trials and tribulations of the campaign, having won the Premier League at a canter last year and only improving, ostensibly, across the summer transfer window.
But this has not been the case. Barring Hugo Ekitike, practically all of Liverpool’s summer additions have fallen by the wayside under Slot’s wing. However, the likes of Mohamed Salah have failed to lead by example.
Salah did score late on, a fine goal after being dropped in midweek. But it was too little too late, with so many Redman flattering to deceive.
Liverpool's worst performers vs Brentford
Salah has been among the most heavily criticised Liverpool players this season. And the rebuke has been justifiable. But the 33-year-old returned to goalscoring form and will now build on that.
However, Florian Wirtz still leaves so much to be desired in the Premier League. The £116m summer signing from Bayer Leverkusen racked up two assists on Wednesday evening against Eintracht Frankfurt, but he still looks a shadow of the world-class prospect under Xabi Alonso’s wing in Germany.
He just doesn’t look right in his playmaking berth. Mismanaged and misutilised? Certainly so. However, Wirtz has been abject in the Premier League and he squandered a glorious chance to break his duck in west London.
Milos Kerkez might be the pick of a bad bunch. Signed from Bournemouth for £45m in July, the 21-year-old has been woeful all season, unable to demonstrate any of the athletic qualities that earned him such esteem last year.
There’s another senior star who has been inexcusably bad of late, and he is threatening to become the club’s new version of Jordan Henderson.
Liverpool's new version of Jordan Henderson
For so many years, Virgil van Dijk has been an indomitable force in defence for Liverpool. But he’s the captain, and he’s on a sinking ship right now.
Questionable decision-making and bereft of confidence, the Dutchman is in danger of becoming the next Henderson, who led Liverpool to so much glory in his time but ended his time at Anfield with a whimper.
Henderson, 35, was part of the Brentford side who defeated Slot’s team on Saturday, and he showcased his leadership and experience to steer his side to a priceless win. Van Dijk was the polar opposite as he failed to manage his troops.
The Liverpool Echo gave the skipper a 5/10 match rating, but in truth, that’s almost generous. Van Dijk has not even a semblance of coherence on the left side with the struggling Milos Kerkez, and Liverpool are altogether spinning out of control, with their most experienced and unflappable defender at the epicentre.
Stats
#
Minutes played
90′
Goals conceded
3
Penalties conceded
1
Touches
95
Accurate passes
69/76 (91%)
Chances created
1
Tackles won
1/2
Recoveries
3
Interceptions
0
Clearances
14
Ground duels won
3/4
Aerial duels won
7/9
You might say Van Dijk was unlucky to have conceded a soft, and ultimately damning, penalty on the hour mark, swinging his leg out to meet Dango Ouattara’s own and falling victim to a tight VAR call.
But then you might also point toward the longer stretch of dismal form from the esteemed Dutchman, who, aged 34, will start facing questions over whether he has lost something crucial to his game, and whether that special something is now irretrievable.
This is what happened to Henderson during those final days. Sold to Al-Ettifaq in 2023, the England international was among the biggest scapegoats as Liverpool toiled throughout 2022/23, missing out on Champions League qualification. Might history be repeating itself here?
Perhaps most concerning of all is the sense that Liverpool need to spend big money on new defenders, having just emerged from a record-breaking summer transfer window with a wealth of elite recruits and having smashed the British transfer record not once but twice.
Liverpool are being consistently outplayed in the Premier League. Slot needs to change things fast, else this calamitous situation will devolve into something far graver for the Dutch tactician.
