Champions Liverpool must rediscover control and consistency after dramatic start to title defence

What a difference a few late goals make. Liverpool were being hailed as 'champions elect' after winning their opening four Premier League games with goals scored in the 83rd minute or later.

But the late-goal gods turned against the Reds in stoppage-time defeats at Crystal Palace and Chelsea, prompting many of the same pundits to proclaim that the champions will return from this month's international break with pressing questions to answer. 

So how worried should Reds fans be after those losses saw their title odds lengthen from 10-11 to 11-4? It is certainly true that, if levels stay as they are, Liverpool will not be retaining their crown.

The old saying that 'winning when you aren't at your best is the sign of champions' can be a bit misleading.

The real sign of champions is routinely being better than your opponents week in, week out – by such a margin that it limits the chances of dropping points.

Of course, there are occasions when results need to be ground out but they should be the exception rather than the norm.

Liverpool fulfilled the criteria of champions last season but, as the accompanying table shows, their standards this term have slipped at both ends of the pitch.

However, comparing them to last term's overall stats is a bit harsh considering that they have played the toughest set of fixtures of any team in 2025-26.

If we compare Liverpool's output to the corresponding games from their title-winning campaign then they have actually collected one point more – 15 compared to 14.

The aggregate score of 13-9 is only slightly worse than last season's 13-8 and they have outcreated their opponents to only a slightly lesser extent, as measured by non-penalty expected-goal difference.

That paints things in a more favourable light, although it should be noted that Liverpool's games away to Chelsea and at home to Arsenal last term were the two fixtures immediately after they had sealed the title.

Arsenal have also had a tricky set of early-season games but have gained a point more than the Reds and posted much better data.

The Gunners, along with Manchester City, have been the cream of the crop with Liverpool somewhere among the next tier of teams along with Chelsea, Palace and Newcastle, adjusting the data for fixture difficulty and red cards.

The question for the Reds is if, or by how much, their numbers jump when they hit the easier part of their schedule, which comes after the November international break, and when their new signings settle in.

Liverpool manager Arne Slot successfully tweaked the Jurgen Klopp blueprint last season. This term was always going to be fascinating as he stamped his own mark on the squad.

The champions spent heavily in the summer, mostly on full-backs and forwards. 

Finding the updated best balance while getting new signings up to speed has been a challenge, made immeasurably more difficult as the club tries to come to terms with the devastating death of Diogo Jota.

When a team spends big, they are often judged against the perfect vision that people have of what all that talent might look like together. The reality is that it takes time to establish relationships and unlock the full potential of the new arrivals.

Alexander Isak had no pre-season and most of the other summer signings are young. The Anfield hierarchy is trying to find a balance between maintaining standards in the short term while also future-proofing the squad and ensuring they will be perennial title contenders over a longer period.

Liverpool have lost much of the control that characterised their success last season and the loss of Trent Alexander-Arnold's ball progression may have been more destabilising than they bargained for. 

New signings Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong are runners and carriers rather than playmakers while Conor Bradley has had rash moments.

Mixed showings from Frimpong and Bradley mean Dominik Szoboszlai has had to fill in at right-back which, in turn, has unsettled the midfield combinations which flourished last season.

Alexis Mac Allister's fitness struggles have placed more pressure on Ryan Gravenberch, who has been increasingly targeted by opponents.

Gravenberch and centre-back Ibrahima Konate had fitness scares over the international break and replicating the good health and form of the spine of their title-winning side was always likely to be difficult.

Liverpool's vulnerabilities have been more exposed and increasingly punished as their opponents' conversion rate has jumped from ten per cent to 13 per cent this term – not aided by goalkeeper Alisson's recent injury.

Arne Slot has plenty of problems to solve at AnfieldCredit: Liverpool FC via Getty Images

They have been more susceptible to fast breaks, already conceding twice to Opta-defined counter-attacks – the same amount as in the whole of last season.

Chelsea's Marc Cucurella boasted in his victorious post-match interview that the Blues had targeted the space vacated by Mohamed Salah's reluctance to track back on the right flank.

If the Egyptian is saving his energy for attacking bursts, it is fine when he's producing his usual incredible output but it's harder for the rest of the team to carry without his end product.

Salah has scored only one non-penalty goal in seven league starts. He has had a similar stretch in all of his previous seasons at Liverpool, bar his opening campaign, so alarm bells shouldn't be at full volume yet. 

However, his drier spells have more commonly come towards the end of a season, as was the case last term, rather than at the start.

Salah has gone six league starts without a goal from open play for just the third time in his Liverpool career. He has never gone seven.

Given that he was in the form of his life in the first half of last season, it is a stretch to say that Father Time has suddenly caught up with the 33-year-old.

Perhaps the absence of Alexander-Arnold is also affecting his output. Prior to the England international's departure to Real Madrid, Salah averaged 0.51 non-penalty goals per game when starting alongside the English right-back and 0.43 without him. That figure drops further to 0.37 if including this season's games.

Salah is averaging just 1.6 shots per game this term, registering three attempts in a match only twice.

He will hope that Sunday's opponents Manchester United represent a good opportunity to put that right. He has scored 13 times in his last 11 league games against the Red Devils and has had at least three shots in his last 12 appearances against them.

Ruben Amorim's side were brushed aside last month by a Manchester City team who, at the time, were facing similar questions to those that Liverpool now face.

The Reds were 4-11 for the corresponding fixture in January but can be backed at 8-13 this time around.

Salah and his fellow forwards will hope to capitalise on a United defence who allow a high proportion of big chances and whose improved attacking numbers are flattered by a combination of red cards, penalties, game-state and facing two of the promoted teams at home.

Liverpool had the title wrapped up early last season and were knocked out of the Champions League in early March. Their dip in standards, and Salah's, arguably started then. 

The Reds have struggled to rediscover their fire over the summer following the Jota tragedy and the transfer turnover.

The best-case scenario is that Slot finds solutions to the tactical questions being posed and the new signings bed in as the fixture list softens. Despite their flaws, they are not far off the pace in the title race.

The worst-case scenario, if those hurdles cannot be navigated, is that 2025-26 ends up being the transitional year at Anfield that many predicted for Liverpool last season.

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