Slot makes remarkable admission as Liverpool leader tells teammates what 'never, ever happens'

Andy Robertson captured the general sense of desolation perfectly.

He said Liverpool “didn’t do enough off the ball” and “can’t come to Brentford away and just expect to play them off the park”. He felt the champions “were just a yard off it” and “didn’t play” to their gameplan, but the hosts “played theirs perfectly”.

“If you just think you’re going to show up and all of a sudden they’re going to drop off, we’re going to have control and we’ll just wait until we score… it never, ever happens,” he added, before stressing the need to “fight” for everything across 90 minutes.

There was a furious resignation to Robertson’s tone when lamenting his side’s lack of “structure”, and how they trained to combat the long throw before conceding from one within five minutes.

For some, it only added to the case for Robertson to come into the team. The learning curve for Milos Kerkez has been steep and there might be a degree of sense in restoring one half of the remarkable full-back tandem upon which Liverpool’s modern excellence was built.

But really this has become less about individuals and far more the collective. There are problems in and out of possession which have been present from the opening weekend and through that five-game winning start well into this run of four defeats. Their shape, their system, their habits and their connections are all lacking.

Much of that is inevitable after the squad turnover in the summer, some of which was forced and unavoidable. But the decision to remodel the entire attack while almost entirely neglecting the defence feels like a significant oversight.

And Arne Slot has taken to helplessly staring and pointing at the massive chink in Liverpool’s armour to ensure even those who have somehow missed it are aware of their glaring weakness.

“It is definitely that teams have a certain playing style against us. It is a very good strategy to play. We have not found an answer yet,” he said.

But he will have to soon as the secret is out; on only three occasions this season has any team faced 70 or more long balls in a single game, and each time has come against Liverpool. The Reds have not kept a clean sheet in nine games.

Arsenal are being pilloried for their brand of football as the goalposts are moved for comfortably the best team in the country. They were where Liverpool are once: bulliable, pliable and easy to overpower. The champions are walking around with a target on their back that the manager has openly admitted he cannot remove.

Slot makes remarkable admission as Liverpool leader tells teammates what ‘never, ever happens’

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