Arne Slot had made a serene start to the unenviable task of succeeding Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, but a 1-0 home defeat to Nottingham Forest has brought the Dutchman’s honeymoon period to an abrupt end and exposed cracks in the Reds’ facade.
Liverpool have little time to lick their wounds with a trip to AC Milan to come on Tuesday to open their return to the Champions League after a year away from Europe’s elite club competition.
Under Klopp, Liverpool’s prestige at the top of the European game was restored. The English giants reached three Champions League finals in five seasons between 2018 and 2022 and won the European Cup for the sixth time in the club’s history.
That is the legacy Slot inherits and the former Feyenoord boss has not been handed a kind draw by the new Champions League format.
Liverpool will face the two most succesful sides in the competition’s history in Milan and Real Madrid.
Xabi Alonso, who had been the favourite to replace Klopp, will return to Anfield with German champions Bayer Leverkusen in November, while Slot goes back to the Netherlands to face Dutch title holders PSV Eindhoven.
They also face more Italian, Spanish, German and French opposition in Bologna, Girona, Leipzig and Lille.
Yet Liverpool may relish that challenge after struggling when Forest put 11 men behind the ball on Saturday and held out for their first win at Anfield in 55 years.
The home side enjoyed nearly 70 percent possession but lacked the necessary spark to make it count.
“We lost the ball so many times in simple situations,” said a frustrated Slot. “We had a lot of ball possession but only managed to create three or four quite good chances, so that is by far not enough.”
The feeling of deflation for the Anfield faithful contrasted sharply with the elation that greeted a 3-0 win at Manchester United before the international break.
Even Klopp had struggled to master Old Trafford during his nearly nine years in charge and the early signs of Slot’s reign were positive.
Over-reliance on Salah?
Liverpool won their opening three Premier League games without conceding as the Dutch coach imposed more control and a bit more caution to the free-flowing brand of heavy metal football that quickly won fans over under Klopp.
Slot now has to strike the balance of imposing his own style while keeping both the players and supporters onside during a transition period.
“If I would change my way of preparation after a loss, that means I only do the best work I can after we lose,” added Slot on how he will change things up for the trip to Milan.
“I want to see the same attitude every single day: after a big win, after a small win, after a draw, after a loss.”
The international break acts as a mitigating factor for Liverpool’s off day. Luis Diaz and Alexis Mac Allister were replaced with the score still at 0-0 against Forest after their transatlantic duties in South American World Cup qualifying.
But their failure to fire on an off day for Mohamed Salah exposed a reliance on the 32-year-old to still carry the goalscoring burden that Slot has to find a solution for, especially with the Egyptian into the final year of his contract.
“Everyone is coming back from different places and playing a different way but still I think even today when we were not at our best we created chances and it should have gone better,” said Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk.
“We have to turn this around and make this a sort of reality check to be better for the rest of the season because if you want to achieve things this season the contrast between the games we played is too big.”
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