Xiaoba Translator | The Red Army encounters 11 major problems: new aids are not working& veterans are lost, and the offense and defense are in chaos

Just when Liverpool seemed to be getting back on track, their forward momentum was interrupted by a blow to the head.

Last weekend's 0-3 away defeat to Manchester City wiped out the optimism accumulated from successive victories over Real Madrid and Villa. As a result, Slott's team was left behind by the Premier League leader Arsenal by 8 points.

After 11 rounds of the league, Liverpool has only accumulated 18 points (5 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses). This is the worst record of the defending champion in the same period since Leicester City in 2016. To make matters worse, almost every line of the team has problems.

To this end, TheAthletic’s Liverpool team reporters James Pierce, Simon Hughes, Andy Jones and Greg Evans jointly sorted out the 11 major problems that Slott must face to save the season.

1. Wirtz is acclimated

Liverpool spent 116 million pounds to sign Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen this summer, which was regarded as an excellent deal.

Former Liverpool midfielder and current Bundesliga commentator Hamann once praised: "He is very good and the best player in Germany. The fans will fall in love with him."

After Arnold moved to Real Madrid, Slott regarded Wirtz as a key figure to fill the team's creative void. The Germany international has been directly involved in 69 goals (34 goals and 35 assists) for Leverkusen in the first two seasons.

However, it is not easy to get Wirtz to perform at his best immediately. The 22-year-old attacker has struggled to adapt to the pace and physicality of the Premier League. So far, he still has 0 goals and 0 assists in the league, and his only outstanding performances have appeared in the Champions League, which is more in line with his technical characteristics. This is not a coincidence.

Slott originally planned to let him serve as the No. 10 position in the three midfielders, but this attempt was quickly abandoned due to the team's defensive holes without the ball. Later, the Dutch coach tried to let him play on the left and right sides. It worked well against Real Madrid, but at the Etihad Stadium he almost disappeared from the field.

Sloter told reporters before last weekend: "Wiltz needs time to adapt to his teammates, and his teammates also need time to adapt to him."

Although he is still young and needs more patience, there is no doubt that Liverpool is being dragged down by this - after all, it is November, and Wirtz has never had a truly convincing performance in the Premier League.

2. Balance between stability and rotation

After defeating Aston Villa, Slott made only one adjustment to the starting lineup that defeated Real Madrid. Subsequently, the original team was completely defeated in front of Manchester City.

Obviously, Slott wants to help the team accumulate momentum by fixing the lineup and reducing rotation. This set of ideas was effective in the first half of last season. At that time, the team once took the initiative in the championship competition, but it also led to the problem of physical exhaustion in the final stage of the season.

Among Premier League coaches, Slott's rotation is relatively small - he made 15 adjustments to the starting lineup in the league, the sixth fewest in the Premier League, using a total of 22 players.

Liverpool is the team with the sixth-fewest rotations in the Premier League this season

However, in all competitions, his rotation range this season is actually greater than last season, although this is largely to integrate as many as seven new players into the team. That strategy changed last week, with fixed line-up selections that for a time felt like Liverpool were on track until they ran out of steam in Manchester.

To lead Liverpool to turn things around, he must find the best balance between stability and rotation.

3. Konate is in sluggish form and the defense is short of manpower.

Last season, the central defender partnership of Konate and Van Dijk was the cornerstone of the team's victory in the Premier League championship. Konate uses his speed to cover positions in time and resolve dangerous situations, and relies on his physical strength to fight against offensive players. He is also very effective in the back-to-forward organization phase.

But things took a turn for the worse this season. In the game against Manchester City, Konate was completely blown away: he first made a mistake and sent a point (although Haaland failed to score a penalty), and then missed the defense, allowing the Norwegian to easily open the scoring with a header. City were keenly aware of his weaknesses and kept up the pressure.

The French central defender has had great ups and downs this season, and he is lucky to remain in the starting lineup. Despite solid performances against Arsenal and Real Madrid, he made mistakes far too often.

He entered the state slowly at the beginning of the season. His performance was particularly poor in the losses to Crystal Palace, Galatasaray and Brentford, and he seemed to have a serious lack of confidence.

The lack of people on the back line makes matters worse. After missing out on Marc Gueye and unfortunately losing Giovanni Leoni to injury, Liverpool's only available centre-back is Joe Gomez.

Konate's contract impasse has not even become the focus of public opinion, which in itself is very telling about his current status. In another seven weeks, he can negotiate preparatory contracts with other European clubs and move on a free transfer next summer; and on Merseyside, few fans are calling for the club to retain him with a high salary.

4. Isaac has been unable to find his form

After joining Liverpool on the transfer deadline with a record British transfer fee of 125 million pounds, Isaac always needs time to keep up with the rhythm.

Although he got what he wanted in Newcastle by going on strike, he missed most of the pre-season preparations and the start of the new season. He completely failed to find the rhythm of the game and was unable to make an immediate contribution.

The club has developed a special physical recovery plan for him and expects that by October, Isaac will be physically ready to show people why he is regarded as one of the most efficient shooters in the Premier League.

But things went counterproductive. His current Liverpool career has only played a total of 429 minutes, covering 8 games in all competitions (including 6 starts). The only goal was a close-range strike against Championship side Southampton in the Carabao Cup..

The team's overall offense has also been affected. Liverpool have struggled in the back-to-front build-up phase this season and they have lost the weapon in Alexander-Arnold who can open things up or relieve pressure with his passing vision. Even if they try to directly find Salah or Gakpo with a long pass, it will be difficult to hold the ball.

Although the sample size is small, if you look at the percentage of ball rights lost (the proportion of ball rights lost to the total number of touches): Salah slightly increased from 35% last season to 38% this season, and Gakpo increased sharply from 26% to 31%. For Dias, who mainly played on the left wing and No. 9 last season, this figure was 24%.

The ability to hold the ball at the center position is also a problem. Although Ekitic and Isaac are tall, they are not true fulcrum centers.

9. Salah’s defensive commitment

Salah’s role in Liverpool’s tactical system has always been controversial.

In order to maximize the role of the Egyptian star, Slott allowed him to stay more in the high position in the frontcourt and rarely gave him defensive tasks. The idea is: reduce defensive consumption in exchange for more offensive output.

When Salah had the best season of his career and led Liverpool to the championship, no one questioned this arrangement; but when his offensive output declined and opponents began to regard his right wing as a breakthrough, the outside world's view changed.

Cucurella publicly stated before the two teams met in October that Chelsea would focus on attacking Salah. Manchester City also followed the same pattern on Sunday through O'Reilly and Doku, and the effect was remarkable-faced with Doku's impact, Salah's support for Bradley was very limited.

Although Salah cannot be expected to handle all offenses, when he is unable to seize the opportunities he has, he needs to make more contributions to the team in the off-ball phase.

10. High-position pressing is inefficient

Of course, Salah’s role is only part of Liverpool’s overall pressing problem. Last season, Dias, who played at the 9th position, and Szoboszlai, who played at the 10th position, played a key role in shaping Liverpool's off-the-ball pressing system.

However, at the beginning of this season, Dias has been sold, and Szoboszlai's position is further back. Ekitic and Wirtz, who replaced them, both need time to adapt to Liverpool's pressing system.

Slott adjusted the team's off-the-ball formation to an asymmetrical 4-3-3, but in order to improve the defense, he returned Szoboszlai to the 10th position and let him lead the frontcourt pressure.

Liverpool's pressing intensity has not changed much (as shown in the figure below, their average PPDA* value in the past 10 games), but the actual effect of the pressing has become a problem.

*PPDA: The number of times the opponent is allowed to pass each defensive action. The lower the value, the stronger the pressure.

From the 21/22 season to the present, Liverpool’s pressure intensity has changed in Premier League games.

The opponent’s tactical style is also a factor. More teams used long balls against Liverpool, which reduced the chances of the Reds pressing high up the pitch; conceding the ball earlier eliminated the need for opponents to take risks in the backfield, further limiting opportunities for pressing.

Salah’s goals against Brentford and Aston Villa are one of the few examples this season of Liverpool regaining the ball through high pressing and converting it into goals.

In the 2024-25 season, they can regain the ball 4.4 times in the offensive third per game.

Distribution of Liverpool's counterattack positions in the frontcourt in the 24/25 season

This season, this data has dropped to an average of 3.8 times per game.

Distribution of Liverpool's counterattack positions in the frontcourt this season

Although Szoboszlai improved against Villa and Real Madrid after returning to the No. 10 position, it was a failed high pressure against Manchester City that led to the team's first goal conceded - even though Liverpool had already returned to defend before conceding the ball.

Diaz's lack of off-ball pressure has a huge impact. His recent second goal for Bayern against Paris Saint-Germain was the perfect example of his relentless drive to win the ball back and create chances for his teammates (or himself).

11. The far-reaching impact of Jota's unexpected death

Although we put this point at the end, in fact, any evaluation of Liverpool's performance this season cannot bypass Jota's tragic death this summer.

It wouldn't be fair to label this as a problem for Sloter to "solve"; it's more of a heavy contextual factor that Slotter will have to take into account when dealing with the emotions of his players and staff -- perhaps, before he can face his own grief.

Jota passed away together with his brother Andre Silva, which brought many difficult realities to face. Some Liverpool players have spoken out about Jota since July, but they seem to understand that mentioning it too much, especially after a loss, could be seen as making excuses.

They may also feel that linking the team's poor performance to the death of a teammate sounds disrespectful to the deceased. Of course, it's completely understandable that some people may be reluctant to disclose the emotional challenges they're facing.

But this does not mean that these challenges do not exist.