Former Premier League manager Alan Pardew has weighed in on Liverpool’s ongoing defensive issues after the champions fell to a fourth successive defeat in England’s top flight
Milos Kerkez looks on during the Champions League group game between Eintracht Frankfurt and Liverpool FC at the Deutsche Bank Park(Image: Ulrik Pedersen/NurPhoto)
Alan Pardew has claimed two Liverpool players ‘look like they’ve had a row’ as the former Newcastle United manager tore into the Reds’ defensive issues. Arne Slot’s men lost 3-2 away at Brentford on Saturday as they suffered their fifth defeat from their last six games.
Liverpool have now lost their last four Premier League matches, with the reigning champions dropping to seventh in the table after results elsewhere went against them during the latest round of fixtures. Meanwhile, they trail league-leaders Arsenal by seven points following the Gunners’ win over Crystal Palace.
They have conceded an eye-watering 21 goals from their 14 outings so far this season, with their defeat to Brentford already the eighth time they have conceded twice or more.
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OPINION
Theo Squires
The Reds have also conceded after the 75th minute in eight of their matches, with such strikes proving decisive against Crystal Palace, Chelsea and Manchester United across their recent losing run.
They have also conceded inside the opening 15 minutes in each of their four successive Premier League defeats, with the Merseyside derby victory over Everton the last time Liverpool actually led in the English top-flight.
Such struggles are not limited to this season, though. Dating back to the Reds’ Champions League exit at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain last March, they have lost 11 of their last 25 matches, winning 12, and keeping just four clean sheets.
They have conceded 31 times across such a run, shipping two goals or more on 13 occasions. And their leakiness at the start and end of games is also still prominent, falling behind inside the opening 15 minutes a further four times, and shipping goals in the final 15 minutes in an additional three matches.
Evidently, it is an ongoing issue that Slot needs to solve. And it has not been aided by frequent changes in his backline due to injuries, as well as an overhaul at full-back and in the goalkeeping department behind Alisson Becker in the summer.
Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong, Conor Bradley and Giorgi Mamardashvili have all come in for criticism at one point or another during Liverpool’s recent struggles, with Trent Alexander-Arnold frequently suffering similar treatment during his own Reds career prior to his Anfield exit.
LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 10: Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate of Liverpool look dejected with their runners up medals after the teams defeat following the 2025 FA Community Shield match between Crystal Palace and Liverpool at Wembley Stadium on August 10, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Michael Regan – The FA/The FA via Getty Images)(Image: 2025 The FA)
And while Pardew concedes that Kerkez has struggled since joining the Reds in a £40m switch from AFC Bournemouth, he has instead pointed the finger at Konate and Van Dijk for Liverpool’s ongoing defensive woes.
“Konate in the middle of the [back four] and Van Dijk – they genuinely look like they’ve had a row over something,” Pardew said on talkSPORT. “I don’t know, perhaps he’s nicking Van Dijk’s meal at the training ground!
“There seems to be a lack of kind of looking after [each other]. The one thing about centre-backs is they look after their full-back, and they look after each other – that is the key to a back four.
“So, the left-side centre-half looks after the left-back, but he also looks after his fellow centre-half.
“You have to protect [them] – that’s your area. And neither of them are doing that job. So, therefore, that is a massive problem for Liverpool.
“Obviously the ‘keeper’s injured, and they’ve got this young keeper in – I wouldn’t say he’s been poor, but it’s just a different character. Bradley has always been in and out of the Liverpool team, and they’re not regular.
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“You’ve got Kerkez, who really is struggling in that Liverpool shirt. I don’t care how you dress it up – he’s come from Bournemouth where he had an outstanding season, mainly through his attacking play, I have to say.
“He’s been found out a little bit defensively, and I thought he struggled again the other night.
“There’s a lot of weaknesses defensively when you actually analyse it. And I think Arne really is searching, particularly at the back and in that central area of stability… This is their problem – it’s like an unfamiliarity.”