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Keep calm. This was the serene advice offered by the Dutch defender and the academy graduate midweek as Liverpool processed consecutive losses for the second occasion under their head coach.

Slot stayed unfazed and positive in his latest address, interspersing several spontaneous comments that the side he was supporting from uncommon censure are at the summit of the English top division. Once more. But underneath the calming messages and encouraging ranking, there are unquestionable issues with Liverpool's performance that, per Slot personally, go beyond than the initial 10 games of the term.

We had been delighted winning the championship,” stated Slot. “However we didn’t shut our eyes for the latter half of the season to the occasions when we needed a dead-ball situation [to win].”

Last season's title winners have not struggling to create chances from open play or to turn superior ball control into comfortable wins in recent months, their boss insisted. They have actually been facing difficulties to do both from the middle of the previous campaign, after rivals changed their strategies to contain the Reds, and are have not discovered remedies.

Numerical Backing

Figures support the manager. In the first nineteen matches of his debut season, the team registered 47 goals with 40 (eighty-five point one percent) coming from open play. During the last nineteen fixtures, Liverpool managed thirty-nine goals, of which twenty-seven (sixty-nine point two percent) were from live action. The reduction was improved this term, over a small sample size, with 10 of the team's 12 league goals coming from live action (eighty-three point three percent).

• Initial nineteen matches: 85.1% of goals from open play
• Closing phase: under seventy percent of goals from open play
• This term: over eighty percent of goals from open play

Yet their performances so far this term, notably the setbacks at Palace and in Istanbul in the span of less than a week, can not be blamed on a drop in dead-ball effectiveness only. Even, their sequence of seven wins ahead of visiting Crystal Palace was regularly accompanied by the qualification that the side won late and/or regardless of an inconsistent showing.

Line-up Challenges

The German playmaker is yet to adapt to the pace of the Premier League and is a expensive signing that Slot is continuing to accommodate to full potential. The club's recent defensive signings, the Dutch defender and the other full-back, were strongly supported by their manager prior to the Galatasaray defeat but are still not at the standards of the their predecessors.

The forward is lacking fitness after spending the summer in dispute at St James' Park, and the centre-back's displays has dipped significantly. The list continues. Solely the French attacker, Van Dijk, the Brazilian shot-stopper, who will be absent for the weekend fixture to the Blues with a muscle problem, the Hungarian midfielder and the Dutch midfielder have performed to a high standard in the current campaign.

Crucial Missing piece

The Reds are in dire need of the Argentine midfielder to regain full fitness and his impact over their rhythm, composure and penetration. The Argentina international was left out of the final two games of the previous campaign to begin his rehabilitation from a nagging groin injury and return healthy for the summer preparations. Ideally, that was the aim. The midfielder's recovery process proved more protracted than anticipated, pre-season was often disrupted as a result, and a key component in Slot's machine has failed to play an entire game for his side following the narrow victory at Leicester on April 20.

“It's said he is racing to catch up,” Slot stated. “Where I'm from we say he is not in rhythm.” The team will be a more formidable side as soon as the Argentine is conducting midfield together with the other midfielder anew.

Next Steps

The head coach has praised the benefits of flexibility in his new-look squad, with the new signings Wirtz, the Frenchman, Isak and the defender able to play in a different spots, but a side undergoing change could do with greater stability in selection to speed the process.

“I don’t think we change our approach but I observe opponents employing a lot of things differently against us,” he stated. “The previous manager left me a lot of gifts but a particular advantage he gave me was concluding third the previous season and in fifth position the year before that.”

Liverpool boast enough top-tier stars to fix their inconsistent performances, as Curtis Jones said lately, but Slot acknowledges the remedy is more complicated than waiting for the new signing and Isak to hit their stride. Stamford Bridge could be a ideal location to start, nevertheless.

“It’s a combination,” he stated. “How do we locate our wide players? Do we find them often enough and in dangerous positions {like we did|as we managed|similar