The ends haven’t justified the means. was contemplating the assorted methods he has tried to guard leads this season. He introduced on , he remembered. The outcome? “We conceded”. Then there was the strategy that labored final 12 months, of utilizing Wataru Endo “to have that midfielder that picks up all of the second balls”. But, in every of the primary two occasions he introduced the Japanese on as a defensive impression substitute, they conceded. That ploy was deserted.
Slot has gone for the counter-intuitive method. “I’ve finished attacker-for-attacker substitution, to not carry a defender in,” he mentioned. “We have tried many issues however the way in which we’re conceding targets can be always completely different. It hasn’t led but to us not conceding within the final minute.” Slot cited a . Others have been set-pieces. on Sunday. , a 3rd pricey late equaliser so as to add to the 5 injury-time winners which have gone into their internet.
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The issue, as Slot ran by means of the issues he has tried, is that it made him sound a supervisor struggling for options; if that’s true in a wider sense, a scarcity of solutions would bode badly for him and them.
Arne Slot’s facet have surrendered 11 factors this season because of targets conceded within the ninetieth minute or later (Peter Byrne/PA Wire)
However the broader concern of concede late targets displays a bunch of issues. The very fact is that they do: 12 after the eightieth minute of league video games this season, the joint most within the division. These conceded within the ninetieth or later have value them 11 factors. A theme is that even their supposed inferiors are empowered to assault, maybe by a way Liverpool’s fragility means they may concede.
, backside of the league, scored within the 94th minute. Leeds, then deep in hassle, within the 96th. Tottenham, and not using a win in 2026, within the ninetieth. “That is in all probability the assumption groups have now after they play in opposition to us,” Slot mentioned. “And I believe we could be a bit anxious in the direction of the tip as properly.”
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Slot lamented an lack of ability to get the second aim, to take the drama out of the closing phases. Too lots of Liverpool’s video games are too tight; one slip or one shot can change the whole lot. They’ve solely gone two targets forward twice within the in 2026, in opposition to Newcastle and West Ham; that mentioned, earlier within the season, they’d an unlucky behavior of shedding 2-0 leads.
Defensive personnel will be faulted. Alisson erred to concede the penalty for Manchester Metropolis’s essential penalty and made one other uncharacteristic mistake within the build-up to Andre’s winner for Wolves; at Molineux, Gomez’s try at a block was unconvincing. Towards Tottenham, Virgil van Dijk was brushed apart too simply by , who discovered Richarlison. gave the scorer an excessive amount of room; positional sense is usually a shortcoming of the Hungarian’s when he performs right-back however, in his defence, he isn’t a right-back.
Richarlison netted a last-gasp equaliser for Spurs (Peter Byrne/PA Wire)
And if there was a curiosity that two others began who’ve spent extra of their careers at right-back – Gomez as a centre-half, Jeremie Frimpong on the fitting wing – Slot has a tough balancing act together with his imbalanced squad.
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Liverpool’s poor finishes is usually a signal of a scarcity of depth which in flip can stem from a scarcity of accessible gamers, that means these they do have are tiring. It was not a sound excuse in opposition to Tottenham, lacking 13 gamers for numerous causes, however has been in different matches.
It stays outstanding that the membership who . Slot will be faulted for a lot else, and accidents have been the fixed, but it surely feels that Richard Hughes and Michael Edwards, the switch gurus within the hierarchy, left him short-staffed in a number of positions; proper wing is one, even when nobody totally foresaw the dimensions of Mohamed Salah’s decline. The failure to get a right-back within the January window is a cause why Szoboszlai ended up there. For the reason that breakdown of the 2024 transfer for Martin Zubimendi, they haven’t tried to get a defensive midfielder. Whereas Ryan Gravenberch has been reinvented, a specialist nullifier might have helped stop late concessions.
Slot has been left with too few footballers, evidenced by his reliance of midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai at right-back (Peter Byrne/PA Wire)
Then there may be the query of sport administration. Earlier within the season, specifically, matches grew to become too ragged as Liverpool chased them. Slot proved skilled in altering video games final 12 months, with the gamers he inherited. Now he has proved much less adept with these purchased on his watch, albeit when some benches look weak. Liverpool solely have seven Premier League aim contributions from substitutes. Arsenal have 22. Manchester United have already got six in Michael Carrick’s transient reign. Igor Tudor bought an help from Kolo Muani. “The issues you possibly can attempt to do as influencers from the facet is within the defensive substitution or offensive substitution,” mentioned Slot. “I’ve tried lots of them.” And too few have labored, because the ends to Liverpool’s video games present.