Curtis Jones said it best. However, it’s probably best to glaze over the exact details of the Liverpool star’s post-match thoughts, his team having been wrecked at Anfield by PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League.
But Liverpool are in the lurch, and this has formed into a crisis of unimaginable depths for Arne Slot, who believes he has the backing of FSG and the board, but with each miserable defeat is cashing in more credit from the bank of his Premier League title success last season.
Liverpool have lost their past three matches by an aggregate score of 10-1. Since the November international break, Anfield has hosted Nottingham Forest and now PSV, and the Reds have been turned over both times.
So deep is this malaise that Liverpool are beginning to become a team not just struggling to identify tactical answers but lacking any conviction or confidence in their performance. In many ways, they are victims of their own self-combustion.
And Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate are, sadly, representations of that.
Liverpool’s deteriorating defence
Across Liverpool’s past three matches in all competitions – three defeats – they have recorded an xG score of 6.59; their opponents have combined for a 5.39 total. As already mentioned, the aggregate score stands at 10-1 to the opposition.
Expected Goals (xG) is a metric designed to measure the probability of a shot resulting in a goal.
As the boss, Slot has to shoulder the blame. However, he must be dumbfounded by the manner of Liverpool’s defending, the absence of coherence. There is an inability to perform the basics of football that has rattled this cage too hard.
Konate is a perfect example of this, with the French centre-back so shorn of belief that mistakes are becoming a part of his daily routine.
When Liverpool concede, Konate is at the heart of it. And Liverpool are conceding in droves.
But the typically unflappable Van Dijk is deteriorating too. He inexplicably shot his hand into the air like a curious schoolchild in the early stages against PSV, and that sealed a spot kick for the visitors. Moments into the game. Converted. Set-piece concession. Again.
He might be 34, but the skipper remains one of the best defenders in the world. Still, his leadership skills have been swept from under his feet, so disjointed is this Liverpool backline.
VAN DIJK KONATE GRAPHIC
Slot needs to fix this mess, and no mistake. But Liverpool’s problem stretch far wider than just the inconsistencies of centre-backs. Where to begin? Where is the end of this remarkable rut?
The boss was brought in for his cool-headedness and tactical ingenuity. But that’s not been on show this season, and the repeated hammering of two stars into a combination that just isn’t working is an illustration of this bitter situation.
Slot cannot start them together again.
Slot must never start Liverpool duo together again
Liverpool have so many tactical imbalances. It is quite incredible how Slot’s side have regressed so deeply after cantering to the Premier League title last term.
But this is the club’s reality, and Slot needs to prove he can find the answers, else his tenure will be cut painfully, regrettably, short.
To spark positive change, the Netherlands tactician has to end this partnership of Milos Kerkez and Cody Gakpo down the left flank. There is no harmony on show between the left-back and winger.
Kerkez is fast, and, when he’s firing on all cylinders, furious. Analyst Sam McGuire observed that “a potential break is nullified by our own players” when the Hungarian threw himself down the line, only for those around him to remain rooted to their spots.
Sure, Kerkez, who joined Liverpool from Bournemouth for £40m this summer, is showing himself to be unintuitive defensively. But awareness and understanding can be worked on, and such flaws have been exacerbated by the squad’s wider issues.
Gakpo is a seasoned Liverpool star now, having joined from PSV in a deal rising to £45m in January 2023. He needs to play with more conviction and more maturity. He also needs to connect with Kerkez and help this young and talented left-back grow into his skin.
Liverpool 1-4 PSV – Kerkez & Gakpo’s Stats | ||
|---|---|---|
Stats (* per game) | Kerkez | Gakpo |
Minutes played | 90′ | 90′ |
Goals | 0 | 0 |
Assists | 0 | 0 |
Touches | 66 | 66 |
Shots (on target) | 1 (0) | 3 (1) |
Accurate passes | 31/35 (89%) | 28/35 (80%) |
Crosses | 1/5 | 3/9 |
Key passes | 1 | 4 |
Dribbles | 0/2 | 1/4 |
Tackles won | 4/8 | 1/2 |
Clearances | 2 | 0 |
Duels won | 9/14 | 4/9 |
Data via Sofascore | ||
Twice Kerkez and Gakpo have started together in the Champions League, and twice Liverpool have been beaten, first at Galatasaray, a miserable evening, and then this week, at Anfield against PSV.
It is unfair to heap all the criticism on these. The sum of Liverpool’s downfall is greater than its individual parts. Against Manchester City earlier this month, Slot lumped them on together with just over half an hour on the clock; they were already three goals down.
But they aren’t working together, not one bit. You can see why Liverpool are so interested in completing a winter deal for the electric Antoine Semenyo, Kerkez’s former teammate at the Vitality Stadium.
The 22-year-old was part of the PFA Premier League Team of the Year last season. He was immense at Bournemouth. But that player has not been found at Anfield this season, with content creator Mark Goldbridge remarking that he has been “such a bad signing” for the champions.
In fairness to Kerkez, he is being shoehorned into a role that does not suit him. It is hard to believe that he, a ferocious touchline full-back, moved to Merseyside on the premise of being utilised in a build-up-focused role.
Journalist Henry Winter said after the match that it’s “pointless writing him off”, and that he “shines most when overlapping a left winger who reads his movement”.
This is not Gakpo. Though the Dutch forward probably receives undue criticism at times, he is not an uncoded winger, given artistic license to roam and do as he pleases – to an extent. No, Gakpo is quite limited in what he does, but he does it well, and that offered a nice counterpoint to Luis Diaz last season, both forwards notching 25 goal involvements across all competitions for league-winning Liverpool.
With four goals and three assists this term, Gakpo isn’t providing the clinical output needed, and Kerkez’s woes behind him are certainly factoring into this tough equation.
The fact of the matter is Liverpool are in a mess of a situation, and Slot’s tenure teeters on the edge of a precipice.
The Dutch coach has just a handful of games to save his Liverpool tenure, and if he continues to persist with this Kerkez-Gakpo combination, he will only be writing his own dismissal note.
Slot must drop 3/10 Liverpool flop who was just as bad as Konate vs PSV
Arne Slot must now axe this Liverpool flop after he put in an extremely poor display at Anfield against PSV Eindhoven.
