POV: What Is Going Wrong at Liverpool? (Alex Crook)

After their latest defeat to Brentford at the weekend, Star Sports football ambassador ALEX CROOK takes a closer look at what is happening to Liverpool this season…

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When even Jamie Carragher brands recent events at old club Liverpool ‘crisis time’ you know there is a major issue, writes ALEX CROOK.

Saturday’s 3-2 defeat at Brentford means the Reds have now lost four Premier League games in a row for only the fourth time.

That is also the same number of losses inflicted on Arne Slot’s men in the whole of last season, two of which came after they had already won the league

Put simply, Liverpool’s title defence already looks in tatters, but why have they fallen off so dramatically?

The biggest issue for me is in the full-back area.

The Anfield hierarchy knew it would be impossible to find a like-for-like replacement for Trent Alexander-Arnold, which was one of the reasons they spent big on the creative flair of Florian Wirtz.

While Wirtz is still finding his feet in English football, his former Bayer Leverkusen teammate Jeremie Frimpong and Conor Bradley are very different types of players to Alexander-Arnold.

Alexander-Arnold did most of his damage with long passes from deep whereas Frimpong likes to hug the touchline a lot more and this has had a negative impact on Mo Salah’s game.

The Egyptian, who is also mourning the tragic loss of his friend Diogo Jota, had an almost telepathic understanding with Alexander-Arnold and looks a little lost without him.

On the other side, another summer signing Milos Kerkez has not looked anywhere near as good in a Liverpool shirt as he did at Bournemouth and there is a strong argument for Slot to reinstate club stalwart Andy Robertson.

The fact Liverpool are no longer water-tight down the flanks has also affected the form of Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate in the heart of their leaky defence.

Wirtz and record signing Alexander Isak will come good and I do not worry about Liverpool scoring goals, but they simply have to start keeping them out at the other end to get out of their slump.

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