Brighton & Hove Albion v Liverpool – A Quick Liverpool Perspective

Brighton & Hove Albion v Liverpool A Liverpool Perspective

It is the hope that kills you.

Thankfully then, Slot has managed to kill any hope I had of a decent result every time Liverpool play. Each time you start to think he has managed to hit rock bottom, Arne Slot proves you wrong by making things worse. I did think the performance against Spurs on the previous weekend had to be rock bottom, as it was simply the worst performance I can remember by Liverpool since the Hodgson days. And Hodgson was hampered by being in charge when the club was on the verge of a financial meltdown, stuck with dross players bought on the cheap, rather than top class signings made for huge fees and on massive wages. At least Hodgson’s team had a plan, a very defensive plan, but he attempted to organise them defensively and played a low block looking to draw or, with a bit of luck, sneak a win. It was boring, but Slot is managing to make those days seem entertaining!

The defending is a shambolic mess, mostly consisting of Konate running all over the place and being anywhere but where he should be and failing miserably to actually pick up anyone in a dangerous area. If they are not in a dangerous area, such as the halfway line, he spends his time trying to get into their kit alongside them, he is that close. Put them in the penalty box and he suddenly is no longer even aware they exist! Van Dijk is not much better this season, constantly passing a man off to no one and running away from any possibility of having to make any kind of challenge. It is hard to tell if his legs are going or if he is simply suffering due to the lack of fitness the whole team have developed under Slot.

If the defending is bad, then what can I describe the tactics as, without swearing? It is hard to understand how the coaching staff have still not realised that playing the ball slowly around at the back does not work. But then, they also have yet to spot how useless Mac Allister has been all season, so maybe it is not so surprising! Or that giving Gravenberch freedom to get forward is not suiting the strengths of his game and he is playing poorly as well as a result. Or that Konate is a liability. Or that a natural right-back is on the bench to use. They cannot even see that pace and power is incredibly important in the Premier League, particularly in midfield.

The list of problems and things going wrong are enormous right now, while the list of things going right is really down to just…