Liverpool spent around $600M on new players in the summer but has so far struggled for consistency in the Premier League, with one thing about Arne Slot becoming clear
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot during his side’s Premier League defeat at Bournemouth(Image: Robin Jones – AFC Bournemouth via Getty Images)
Dominik Szoboszlai stood, hands on hips, looking up at the sky. Somehow, Liverpool had contrived to drop points in stoppage time again — for the fifth time in the Premier League this season — with Bournemouth the latest team to benefit from a long throw.
Arne Slot said his players were tired from a midweek trip to Marseille in the Champions League, but that is no excuse, really. Virgil van Dijk started sloppily, even if he redeemed himself to some degree by scoring just before half-time, and Milos Kerkez struggled for 45 minutes before being replaced by Andy Robertson.
Error-prone at the back, and with Wataru Endo filling in after Alisson Becker clattered into Joe Gomez, Liverpool was then overly reliant on a misfiring attack. Szoboszlai had done his best, but Mohamed Salah and Florian Wirtz were largely anonymous.
OPINION
READ MORE: Alisson ignores direct orders from Arne Slot as Liverpool failure proves costly
Quite fairly, there are questions to be asked about Slot. Most pertinently, is he getting the most out the players that he has at his disposal?
That Wirtz was struggling so much and Cody Gakpo has become so predictable suggests not. Hugo Ekitike was taken out of the starting XI here to have a rest, but he has been a rare bright spark in the forward line over the last few months.
Midweek, Liverpool looked magnificent in Marseille. But, of course, Roberto De Zerbi’s team played in a way that was conducive to the Reds playing well, playing right into their hands.
Problems are mounting for Arne Slot(Image: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
Even so, there should not be such a difference between performances in Europe and domestically. Champions League Liverpool and Premier League Liverpool are simply way too far apart.
Slot has to take the blame for failing to get the most out of his roster, for sure. But at the same time, the Liverpool boss can only do so much with the players he has available.
Liverpool had five players absent against Bournemouth: three long-term, one short-term, and one on compassionate leave. That is not a high enough number for a crisis.
Federico Chiesa, the short-term issue, is rarely trusted to start matches anyway, while Giovanni Leoni is a teenager. Liverpool has been unfortunate with injuries, but the bottom line is that its depth is nowhere near sufficient.
To properly judge Slot, Liverpool needs at least three more senior players than it has now, assuming that no one leaves. His squad is lacking the options required to make a fair judgment.
In defense, Liverpool is a center-back light. In midfield, it needs a better player than Wataru Endo to turn to when he isn’t filling in elsewhere. And in attack, Slot’s team is desperately short of pace and the ability to beat a man.
Liverpool was right to sell Luis Diaz to Bayern Munich for a fee that could reach $88 million (£65 million), with the Colombian wanting out and now 29. His contract was running down and it made sense to cash in.
The mistake, though, was not selling the player at a time when someone could be brought in as a replacement. Diaz’s ability to dribble and create in the final third is simply not there anymore, with Rio Ngumoha’s game time, given his age, needing to be managed.
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It is a difficult argument to make for a team that has spent $600M in one summer on new players, but the reality is that Liverpool needs more investment. It needs more bodies and the ability to rotate.
If Liverpool had either kept Diaz or bought someone similar who could come in to replace him in the squad, Gakpo would likely be playing at a higher level, as he was last season, Wirtz would have more options to pass to, and Ekitike wouldn’t as overplayed.
Considering Salah could move when the season ends (and if not after this one, then almost certainly the next), Liverpool may need two wide forwards when the next transfer window opens.
On top of adding more depth in defense and midfield too, it might end up being another busy summer.
