Arne Slot continues to undo Jurgen Klopp’s years of good work (Image: Getty)
It’s only been a couple of years since Liverpool were known as the Premier League’s ‘mentality monsters’ under Jurgen Klopp. Never knowing when they were beaten, the Reds would fight until the bitter end and were feared by almost every side they went up against. However, in the present day, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
It was always going to be difficult for Arne Slot to fill the void, even though the transition initially looked seamless. He got off to the perfect start by winning last season’s Premier League title, but it was essentially a Klopp side without any summer signings.
Slot was allowed to spend more than any other top-flight club to mould the squad in his image ahead of his second season, but the Reds are now miles away from the world-beaters they once were.
Perhaps the most worrying thing is the weak mentality that has crept into the squad over the course of the campaign. Their lack of bite was on full display against Manchester United as they rolled over for the Red Devils in the first half.
Liverpool had barely got out of the dressing room before they were two goals down at Old Trafford. They simply didn’t turn up and United, who clearly wanted it more, ran them ragged.
Things changed after the break when Dominik Szoboszlai and Cody Gakpo fired the visitors level, but instead of keeping the pressure on and turning the screw, they wilted and United were able to snatch a dramatic victory.
There is no chance that Liverpool would have allowed that to happen under Klopp. They would’ve kept battling and possibly even found a winner themselves, but they are a different side these days.
Jamie Carragher summed it up perfectly when he described his former club’s performance as ‘soft and weak’, because that’s exactly what it was.
It’s a damning indictment of how far the Reds have fallen under Slot, who is undoing Klopp’s good work and might even pay with his job at the end of the season.
Liverpool aren’t even close to being the ‘mentality monsters’ they once were (Image: Getty)
He wasn’t the only one to blame for the defeat to United, with a number of Liverpool players falling flat under the weight of expectation.
Alexis Mac Allister has endured a turbulent season and was nowhere to be seen in the engine room. Kobbie Mainoo and Casemiro were given complete freedom to run the show and control the midfield battle throughout the game.
Curtis Jones, who was similarly poor at right-back, could move back into midfield to replace the Argentine for the rest of the season.
However, it wouldn’t exactly be a massive improvement and Liverpool would hardly suffer from dropping the 25-year-old to the bench as well.
Jeremie Frimpong, meanwhile, offered very little on the right wing and shouldn’t play there again. It’s an experiment that just isn’t working and he needs to either revert to his right-back role or be left out altogether.
As we near the end of a hugely disappointing season for Liverpool, several tough questions need answering and it’s clear that changes are needed on a number of fronts.
Whether that results in Slot being replaced as manager remains to be seen, but it might be a good place to start.
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