The world of soccer throws up no shortage of questions. Today, Graham Ruthven endeavors to answer three of them
This time last season, Liverpool had just registered their 10th win in 12 games to go nine points clear at the top of the Premier League. It was around this time the narrative around Slot’s team shifted from questioning if they could win the title in their first season post-Jürgen Klopp to predicting just how far ahead of the chasing pack they would finish. A year on, the narrative has shifted tremendously.
Saturday’s 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest was Liverpool’s sixth in their last seven league games. Now 11 points behind Arsenal and top spot, their title defence is already as good as over with Champions League qualification also looking a long way out of reach. Only a few months back, Liverpool were widely judged to have ‘won’ the summer transfer window. That seems a very long time ago.
On paper, Liverpool’s team is still the strongest in the Premier League. They have last season’s top scorer (Mohamed Salah). And one of the best goalkeepers in the world (Alisson). And arguably the best centre-back of the Premier League era (Virgil van Dijk). Oh, and they added Germany’s most talented playmaker in a generation (Florian Wirtz), as well as a striker (Alexander Isak) so good he has been compared to Thierry Henry. They all played against Forest, and Liverpool lost handily.
