Sam Allardyce believes Liverpool are paying the price for Crystal Palace’s decision to keep captain Marc Guehi on transfer deadline day
06:00, 17 Oct 2025
Sam Allardyce talks Liverpool on the Footy Accumulators No Tippy Tappy Football podcast
When Liverpool lose, it’s big news. When they lose three games in a row, questions over whether a blip is really a crisis soon arise.
Throw in the fact that those three games came before the international break and it was predictable, then, what the narrative surrounding the defending Premier League champions was during this latest, interminable break from club football.
That’s not to say that Liverpool do not have issues that need addressing going into Sunday’s big match at home to bitter-rivals Manchester United.
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But there is context. The Reds’ squad underwent huge change in the summer, with 10 signings being made, and nearly as many walking out of the Anfield exit doors.
And, despite a testing opening fixture list that shows no sign of easing up, Arne Slot’s side will enter this weekend sitting just one point behind new leaders Arsenal.
But if they are to finish above the Gunners, and the other title challengers, they are going to need to tighten up at the back.
Liverpool have kept just two clean sheets so far this season and have conceded 15 goals in the 11 matches they have played in all competitions.
And former Everton, Sunderland and Bolton Wanderers boss Sam Allardyce believes the Reds are paying the price for Crystal Palace’s transfer deadline day U-turn on their captain Marc Guehi, who had been set for Merseyside.
Speaking exclusively on the Footy Accumulators No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, in partnership with Boyle Sports, Allardyce said: “Liverpool’s poor start wasn’t a poor start till just recently, but what’s concerning about them is how much money’s been spent on the team.
“And it appears that the biggest player of all hasn’t been bought, and that’s Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace, because they are defensively looking a little suspect.
“Liverpool have become a little leaky. Joe Gomez is a good player, but has been with Liverpool a long time, and that’s it at centre half.
“You know what I’m like defensively, I’m the Mr. Negative in the world of football when they all say: ‘Oh, listen to that boring old fart. He’s always talking about clean sheets and all that rubbish’.
“But if you don’t get clean sheets, if you don’t have the best defence, then you don’t win the league. And that will never change.
“It’s certainly not the Liverpool of last year, which only had one signing and they won the league. This year, how many signings, five or six?”
“The trouble is they’ve spent all this money and they’re no better. When I’ve talked about doing too much too soon before, finishing higher in the Premier League than you should do.
“You’ve beaten all the odds, and if you fall below that in the next season, then you’re no good again.”
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There would be no better way for the Reds to respond to their critics than by seeing off Man United this weekend.
And one player in particular who may have a point to prove is Mohamed Salah who, perhaps for the first time in his magnificent and decorated Liverpool career, has come under scrutiny.
Salah signed a new two-year contract toward the end of last season, when he broke the 30-goal barrier for the fifth time for the Reds.
But, after only scoring three times so far this season, Allardyce claims the 33-year-old would have been sold if he’d been playing under Sir Alex Ferguson at United.
Allardyce said: “How many players have we seen who are in the last year of their contract and they get the big contract they’ve been waiting for and decide to stay.
“In all fairness, Salah probably could have gone and earned a lot more money in Saudi [Arabia], but we have seen other players that seem to decline after getting a bigger contract than they had before.
“Sir Alex would have sold Salah. He knew when to move a player on without a doubt.
“He was a master at maximizing the fee. He let them go just before they ended up being not as valuable as they were at that particular time.”
