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Maintain calm. This proved to be the Zen-like guidance provided by Liverpool's captain and Curtis Jones recently as Liverpool reflected on successive defeats for the second time under their head coach.

The manager remained unfazed and positive during his press conference, sprinkling multiple voluntary comments that the squad he was supporting from rare censure are top of the English top division. Anew. However behind the reassuring words and favorable standings, there are indisputable issues with Liverpool's displays that, per Slot personally, extend further than the initial 10 games of the term.

“We were very happy securing the league,” said the head coach. “Yet we didn't close our vision for the second part of the campaign to the occasions when we needed a set piece [to win].”

The Premier League champions have not struggling to generate opportunities from open play or to turn dominant possession into convincing victories since August, their head coach maintained. The team have actually been facing difficulties to do the two starting in the midpoint of last season, when other teams changed their strategies to contain the Reds, and are yet to find remedies.

Data-driven Backing

Figures back up his claims. In the first nineteen matches of his maiden term, the team notched forty-seven goals with 85.1% (the vast majority) resulting from open play. During the last nineteen fixtures, Liverpool managed 39 goals, of which 69.2% (just over two-thirds) were from live action. The decline has been addressed this season, admittedly in limited games, with ten of the team's twelve top-flight strikes coming from open play (a high percentage).

• First 19 games: eighty-five point one percent of goals from open play
• Final 19 games: sixty-nine point two percent of goals from open play
• This term: over eighty percent of goals from open play

But their performances in the current campaign, particularly the setbacks at Palace and in Turkey in the span of a few days, cannot be attributed to a dip in dead-ball effectiveness alone. Moreover, their run of seven victories prior to heading to Selhurst Park was regularly accompanied by the qualification that Liverpool scored decisive goals in the closing stages and/or in spite of an patchy display.

Line-up Issues

Wirtz is yet to adapt to the intensity of the Premier League and is a £100m talent that the manager is continuing to integrate to optimal performance. The club's new full-backs, one new full-back and the other full-back, were staunchly defended by their boss ahead of the loss in Turkey but are not yet at the levels of the their predecessors.

The forward is short of full sharpness after spending the off-season in dispute at his former club, and the centre-back's form has dipped significantly. The list goes on. Just the French attacker, the leader, the goalkeeper, who will sit out the weekend fixture to Chelsea with a hamstring injury, the Hungarian midfielder and the engine-room player have delivered at a good level this term.

Vital Absence

The Reds urgently require Alexis Mac Allister to recover full fitness and his impact over their tempo, control and penetration. The South American star was excluded of the last two matches of last season to begin his recovery from a ongoing physical problem and come back fit for the summer preparations. Ideally, that was the intention. Mac Allister's return to fitness proved more protracted than anticipated, the warm-up matches was often disrupted as a result, and a key component in the manager's machine has failed to play a full match for his side since the narrow victory at the Foxes on April 20.

“People claim he’s playing catchup,” Slot said. “Back home we say he walks behind the music.” Liverpool will be a different proposition when Mac Allister is directing the engine room together with the other midfielder once more.

Next Steps

Slot has highlighted the benefits of versatility in his overhauled lineup, with the summer arrivals Wirtz, Ekitiké, Isak and Frimpong equipped to play in a multiple roles, but a team in transition could do with increased regularity in lineup choices to accelerate the process.

It's not that we alter our methods but I notice opponents employing a lot of tactics differently against us,” he explained. “Jürgen Klopp gave me a lot of benefits but one of the gifts he provided was concluding third the previous season and fifth the season before that.”

The Merseysiders have enough elite players to address their patchy displays, as the midfielder stated this week, but the coach concedes the answer is trickier than waiting for the new signing and the forward to hit their stride. Stamford Bridge might prove a perfect setting to commence, nevertheless.

It's a mix,” Slot remarked. “In what way can we get the ball to our fliers? Are we reaching them regularly and in dangerous positions {like we did|as we managed|similar