Slot must immediately drop Liverpool’s 4/10 flop

January 17, 2016 was the last time Liverpool lost a football match at Anfield to their dear old rivals.

That day, it was a goal from Wayne Rooney that sealed Manchester United’s victory against the Reds. How times have changed since then. Liverpool have won the championship twice; this is not the case for their friends across the way.

Ruben Amorim entered this clash with slim hopes. Yes, Liverpool were in difficult form, but United’s form has been problematic since the Portuguese took over.

Yet for the first time during his tenure, they managed to achieve back-to-back league victories. Maybe Amorim is the perfect person for the job?

Whatever the Red Devils’ feelings, questions may now emerge about Arne Slot’s position.

This 2-1 defeat was really difficult to swallow. Liverpool hit the post several times and recorded a higher xG (expected goals) total, but failed to capitalize on their opportunities.

Cody Gakpo equalized but a late header from Harry Maguire condemned the hosts to a third successive league defeat.

They are now four points behind Arsenal in the Premier League title race. This is worrying, especially considering how much they spent over the summer.

So where did it all go wrong?

What happened for Liverpool against Manchester United

Well, where to start? When things don’t go as planned, curious things happen, and that was certainly the case during Slot’s accusations Sunday night.

Before scoring from close range in the second half, Gakpo hit the woodwork three times, the most notable coming in the first 45 minutes when Liverpool surged on the counter-attack.

The Dutchman found enough space to rush towards the penalty area but diverted his shot towards the post.

Liverpool could and should have equalized earlier. Another day they win the game, such are the slim margins in Premier League football.

However, it wasn’t just their lackluster finish that cost them. Last season the Reds were resilient and solid in defence, but they are really paying the price for not investing more in the centre-back pairing.

Milos Kerkez has signed but is still struggling to get going in Liverpool colors with Amad Diallo and Bryan Mbeumo – the scorer of United’s first goal – running around him.

Yet skipper Virgil van Dijk is perhaps the most worrying of the group, given his experience. This is not the first time in a match this season that he was surprised and should have done better for the first goal.

Mbeumo was allowed to slip in behind the big Dutchman and he took advantage of Amad’s lovely pass to shoot.

Van Dijk’s regression is a matter of debate, but perhaps the more pressing question is the form of the Premier League’s most expensive signing.

Liverpool’s biggest problem after Man United defeat

This summer, Liverpool seemed to have won the transfer window. £116m for Florian Wirtz? You don’t mind if we do. £125m for Alexander Isak? Yeah, go on then.

The Swede was at the center of an all-powerful saga. He refused to go on Newcastle’s pre-season tour and subsequently trained away from the Toon first team for a few months before eventually moving to Anfield.

However, since arriving on Merseyside he has only scored once, ultimately battling his fitness having not played at all during pre-season.

Well, before the United game, Slot said the time had come to judge him. “Fitness-wise he is close to the level he should be and we can now judge him fairly.”

Judging him is exactly what we will do. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a great performance from the Premier League record holder.

For the sixth consecutive match, the center forward failed to find the net and he probably should have done so at Anfield this weekend.

Isak had two shots and missed a big chance set by OPTA, including one straight to the right boot of Senne Lammens. It’s no surprise that he left the match with a 4/10 rating thanks to GOAL, who rightly suggested the striker would be “extremely disappointed with his performance”.

At Newcastle last season, when the goals were coming, he certainly would have scored, such is his ruthless nature. We can point to a lack of sharpness but as Slot says, he is now ready to go.

It’s incredibly difficult to leave the biggest signing of all time on the bench, but Isak’s lack of form has had consequences, not least for Hugo Ekitike, arguably Liverpool’s player of the season so far.

He scored five goals in his first eight games of the season for the Reds and also registered an assist.

The Frenchman was merciless in the final third; he was everything Isak has been over the last few seasons and he looked like he did everything he could to achieve that.

It is perhaps no coincidence that since Ekitike became less of a regular starter, Liverpool’s form has declined. In Isak’s three Premier League starts, Slot’s side have lost all three. It’s time for Ekitike to hit the ground running in the Champions League on Wednesday in Frankfurt.