Liverpool have lost three Premier League matches in a row for the first time since February 2021, when they went on to finish the 2020/21 season in third place. Football writer Alex Keble looks at five questions for Arne Slot to solve to get his side back to their best.
It never ceases to amaze how quickly a team’s fortunes can change in the Premier League.
Liverpool won each of their opening five matches of the 2025/26 season, and with a reported £400million+ spent on new players, were tipped to run away with the title.
Three Premier League defeats later, and the problems seem to be mounting for Slot, who appeared to be struggling to keep his team's rhythm with the new signings.
He selected four of those new signings — Jeremie Frimpong, Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak — in his line-up to face Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday night, with Milos Kerkez moving to the bench.
Also named among the substitutes in Germany was Mohamed Salah, in the wake of club legend Jamie Carragher questioning whether the talismanic forward should still be a guaranteed starter.
The rot was stopped with a comprehensive 5-1 victory in Frankfurt, but looking forward to Saturday, these are the questions Slot faces ahead of a trip to Brentford.
How can Slot improve the defence?
Liverpool have conceded 11 Premier League goals this season, a huge increase on this stage of last season, in terms of shots, goals, and, most importantly, set-pieces.
Liverpool's first eight Matchweeks compared
| Statistic | 2024/25 | 2025/26 |
| Goals conceded | 3 | 11 |
|---|---|---|
| Set-piece goals conceded | 0 | 5 |
| Clean sheets | 5 | 2 |
| Shots on target faced | 26 | 26 |
| Save percentage | 88.5% | 57.7% |
Liverpool need to dramatically improve their set-piece defending; only West Ham United (eight) and Nottingham Forest (six) have conceded more set-piece goals.
Beyond that, Liverpool have looked too open, especially to counter-attacks. They have conceded two or more goals in eight of their 12 Premier League matches since the start of May, more than any other team.
A lot of pundits' focus has been on the performances of Ibrahima Konate. Former Liverpool striker Michael Owen has been critical of “one or two performances” of the centre-back.
But the issue goes deeper than one player.
"Liverpool are just not at the races at all defensively," said the club's former defender Carragher on Sky Sports. "Until they fix that, they can't win the league."
Liverpool are currently conceding 1.4 goals per Premier League match, up from 1.1 last season.
Slot will know this has to improve, but it isn’t an easy fix. It will come down to finding a better balance in various aspects of his team’s performances.
Who does he select in the full-back positions?
Kerkez has struggled to settle at left-back since joining from AFC Bournemouth in the summer and has drawn criticism for numerous performances, most recently being described by Jamie Redknapp on Sky Sports as playing "like a nervous wreck" in the defeat to Man Utd.
Kerkez, like Konate, has made two errors leading to an opposition shot this season. Only two players in the Premier League have made more: Morgan Gibbs-White, with three, and Joshua Acheampong, on four.
On the other side, Frimpong, not helped by an early injury, has been in and out of the team as Slot switches between his new signing from Bayer Leverkusen, Conor Bradley and Dominik Szoboszlai in the right-back role, with none holding the position down.
Marc Cucurella even highlighted the point after Chelsea’s late win at Stamford Bridge came down Liverpool's right.
"I think they play one style of game where Salah is always ready to attack so we prepare for that," the left-back said. "If we do a good press, maybe we will have a lot of space in there. Today it works, and we won the game in this way."
Indeed, most Liverpool goals conceded have been from attacks down one side that led to chances at the back post, therefore involving both Liverpool full-backs.
Slot has various options to fix this. He could move Frimpong more permanently into the team to get him up to speed, which might in turn help support Salah, although that might increase their defensive vulnerability on that side.
The Liverpool head coach could also bring veteran Andy Robertson into his Premier League line-up at left-back, just as he did against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League. Or Slot may choose to restructure how the full-backs play, for example instructing the left-back to stay deep and form a back three as the right-back bombs on.
Does he keep starting Salah?
"I think we're at that stage now where Salah shouldn't be a guaranteed starter every week," Carragher said on The Gary Neville Podcast. "I do think this is a real conundrum for the manager going forward."
Salah has four goal involvements in eight games this season (two goals, two assists), but in a number of key metrics his numbers are way down from 2024/25.
Salah's PL attacking stats per 90 - last five seasons
| Stat | 21/22 | 22/23 | 23/24 | 24/25 | 25/26 |
| Goals & assists/ 90 | 1.17 | 0.85 | 0.99 | 1.25 | 0.51 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shots | 4.33 | 3.31 | 3.79 | 3.23 | 1.77 |
| Touches in pen area | 9.8 | 8.22 | 8.55 | 9.49 | 5.19 |
| Succ. take-ons | 42.7% | 37.8% | 35.1% | 42.3% | 10% |
Scroll across to see full table
He has now gone seven consecutive Premier League matches without scoring a non-penalty goal for the first time in his Liverpool career, and appears to be missing the support of Trent Alexander-Arnold after his summer move to Real Madrid.
Some Liverpool supporters will argue Salah needs to play his way back into form, others may feel that Slot cannot afford to wait.
Slot has Federico Chiesa who can play on the right. The Italian has scored and assisted from the bench already this season – or Frimpong, who came on in place of Salah at Old Trafford and did well. Despite playing for just five minutes, plus stoppage-time, Frimpong fizzed in two impressive crosses.
At Frankfurt, Slot played a 4-3-3, with Frimpong providing the width from right-back.
Start with Ekitike or Isak, or both?
Arguably the simplest explanation for Liverpool’s issues are that the £400million of new signings all need time to settle, and none more so than Isak, who didn’t have a pre-season and appears behind the pace, despite Slot's insistence pre-Man Utd that the Swede was fit.
Isak is yet to score or assist for his new club in the league, and has managed only a single shot on target in four Premier League matches.
In direct contrast, Ekitike hit the ground running back in August after joining from Frankfurt, scoring in each of his first three games for the club – and five in his first eight in – before an injury setback.
Now returning to full fitness, Slot could choose to play Ekitike ahead of Isak for the time being, or even play them together in the Premier League, as he did in Frankfurt, with Gakpo on the left of a front three.
How does he get Wirtz firing?
Ahead of the trip to Germany, Carragher came up with a suggested XI that included Ekitike behind Isak and Wirtz playing off the left.
"Wirtz can’t be kept on the bench forever," said Carragher on Sky Sports. "He plays in that left channel for Germany and that is where he did so well at Leverkusen."
Whatever Slot chooses to do, getting Wirtz firing is a priority, although notably the German has created 14 chances in the Premier League, the eighth most among all players.
He was finally rewarded with his first goal contributions since the Community Shield in August, as he assisted the second-half goals for Gakpo and Szoboszlai in Frankfurt.
With that in mind, perhaps all Slot and his new players need is time and patience.
After all, Liverpool have 13.9 "expected points", according to Opta, just 3.1 fewer than Arsenal at the top.
This is probably no crisis as the UEFA Champions League tie suggests. A few tweaks, and a small uptick from some hugely talented new signings, and Liverpool will be back on the up.