Alan Shearer reveals alarming Liverpool stat that will leave Arne Slot furious
Liverpool face a brutal battle to retain their Premier League title this season.
The Reds were top of the pile by a considerable margin last season and have strengthened with the likes of Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike arriving on Merseyside.
Liverpool started their campaign with a 4-2 win over Bournemouth, but it was not all rosy for Arne Slot and Co in the Anfield clash.
The Reds look very vulnerable defensively, and it is something that they will have to fix rapidly if they are to hold off Manchester City and Arsenal.
Liverpool’s defensive weakness will worry Slot
Milos Kerkez was the target of Alan Shearer’s criticism on Match of the Day on Saturday (16 August), despite him already being off the pitch by the time that the Cherries scored.
The former Newcastle striker is concerned by the fact that the Reds conceded twice on the counter-attack, after they only let in two goals from those situations in the whole of last season in their title success.
Speaking on the Rest is Football (18 August), he said: “Yeah, I think the stat on Match of the Day was, they got caught out on counter-attacks with conceding two goals the whole of last season, and obviously already conceded two goals against Bournemouth on Friday night.
“I mean, they’re always going to score goals because of the players that they’ve got in that team, the brilliant players, and we’ll talk about Ekitike.
“But I think, yeah, they look very, very vulnerable defensively on the turnover of possession, particularly in behind both fullbacks, whether that was Kerkez Frimpong or whether it was Robertson when he brought him on, or Endo, I think he brought on as well, didn’t he, at right back?”
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Liverpool don’t need to be too concerned, yet
The Reds do not need to read into the issues raised by Shearer just yet; there are several reasons that their defence is not as strong.
For starters, Ryan Gravenberch missed the Community Shield for personal reasons and was suspended for the league opener.
The Dutchman is a crucial piece of Slot’s structure, especially when they are defending, so they cannot be judged properly until he is back.
Another reason is Alexis Mac Allister only featured for a total of 82 minutes in pre-season, so the Argentine maestro is not at his brilliant best yet.
Finally, it is a new set of full-backs in Jeremie Frimpong and Kerkez; it will take them a while to adjust to Slot’s demands, once they do, it should be fine.
Slot has shown that he can work out issues and solve them in a timely fashion, so it is not a huge concern at the moment, it may be if it continues on into the season though.
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