With 33 minutes on the clock against Chelsea, Liverpool midfielder Ryan Gravenberch looked down at the turf as an ironic cheer sounded around Stamford Bridge. The Dutchman's miscued pass for teammate Milos Kerkez had trickled straight out of play, and on an evening when a late strike from Estêvão condemned Liverpool to a third-successive defeat in all competitions, Gravenberch's error served as a neat encapsulation of his team's current struggles.
Sloppy, disjointed and low on confidence, Arne Slot's side looks like a shadow of the team that romped to the Premier League title last term, with last weekend's 2-1 defeat in West London following back-to-back away defeats to Crystal Palace and Galatasaray.
"The decision-making could've been better," Slot said in his post-match news conference last Saturday. "It's fine margins like it's been for as long as I've been here. Last week, same as this week -- two difficult away games -- the fine margins haven't been in our favor."
After being the beneficiaries of so many late goals in the early weeks of the season, Liverpool are now falling foul of those "fine margins" and have been usurped by Arsenal at the top of the table.
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Of course, there is a sense of perspective needed. This is the first time in Slot's managerial career he has lost three games in a row, and his team still sits in second place, just one point behind Mikel Arteta's side. There is still plenty of time for Liverpool to salvage the season, with its £450 million worth of summer signings likely to find their groove sooner rather than later.
That said, there can be no escaping the fact that Slot's side does not currently look like a team poised to defend their Premier League crown. So where is it all going wrong? And how can Liverpool turn things around?
"Winning" the transfer window doesn't always equal success
When Liverpool rounded off an unprecedented summer of spending with the £125 million British-record addition of Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak on deadline day, it looked like the perfect end to one of the most impressive transfer windows of all time.
Isak became the Reds' seventh first-team arrival, following the signings of Bayer Leverkusen duo Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong, Bournemouth's Kerkez, Eintracht Frankfurt's Hugo Ekitike and Parma's Giovanni Leoni. Goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili -- who had agreed a move the previous summer from Valencia but spent the 2024-25 season back on loan in Spain -- also joined up with Slot's squad.
Just months after winning the title by a 10-point margin, it seemed Liverpool had made themselves even stronger, and they were instantly marked out as the team to beat in the Premier League. However, "winning" the transfer window does not always equate to success on the pitch, and Liverpool's summer of change has left Slot's side looking like a team in transition.
Last season, consistency was key to the team's success, evidenced by the fact Slot was able to name the same starting XI more times in a single campaign (seven) than his predecessor Jürgen Klopp managed in his 491 games in charge (five).
Central to that continuity was the robustness of Liverpool's midfield, with the trio of Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister starting 28 of the club's 56 games in all competitions. So far this season, those three players have only started in midfield together twice, with Mac Allister still playing catchup after missing the majority of preseason with an unspecified injury and Szoboszlai often being deployed at right back.
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Instead, it is Wirtz who -- more often than not -- has been handed a starting berth in midfield. But, having arrived at Anfield for £100 million as one of the most talked-about young players in Europe, the 22-year-old's performances are yet to live up to the noise. In his nine games this term, Wirtz has failed to register a goal or assist, with legendary Premier League striker Wayne Rooney claiming he "damages the balance" of Slot's side.
"I've seen players come into this league, and it takes time," the former Manchester United forward said on The Wayne Rooney Show last month. "It's not the price tag. It's not the player or his ability. I don't see where he fits into what Liverpool do in that system."
It was, perhaps, a harsh assessment. Only Cody Gakpo has created more chances for Liverpool than Wirtz in the Premier League this season, and the Germany international has offered enough glimpses of quality to suggest he could yet be a success for Slot's side.
Still, he has not hit the ground running, and the same can be said of Isak, though there is mitigation for the striker's slow start. The Sweden international arrived on Merseyside lacking match fitness, having spent much of the summer on strike in a bid to force through a transfer from Newcastle United. He has started just four games for his new club and, despite assisting Gakpo to score the equalizer against Chelsea last weekend, he still looks some way off full fitness.
At the other end of the pitch, both Kerkez and Frimpong have struggled to deliver consistently, while Leoni -- who looked impressive on his debut against Southampton last month -- is set to miss the rest of the campaign with an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.
So far, striker Ekitike has been the overwhelming standout among Liverpool's new recruits, with four goals and an assist in his nine appearances this term. However, the France international missed his team's trip to Selhurst Park through suspension, while he was relegated to the bench against Chelsea after being forced off with a knock against Galatasaray.
For all the attention Liverpool garnered for their summer of heavy spending, it looks at present like the costliest aspect of their transfer business came with the failure to sign defender Marc Guéhi from Crystal Palace. Sources told ESPN that club chairman Steve Parish accepted Liverpool's £35 million offer on deadline day, with the player having been granted permission to have a medical.
However, Palace withdrew from the deal at the 11th hour after being unable to secure their preferred replacement and, while the feeling at Liverpool is that the defense is well-stocked without him, Guehi's calm and composure would have been a welcome addition to a backline that has looked worryingly porous this term.
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Experienced stars failing to shine
Despite their Premier League success last season, it always looked like it would be a big summer for Liverpool, with replacements needed for a number of key players.
Sources told ESPN that defender Trent Alexander-Arnold informed Slot of his decision to join Real Madrid as a free agent back in March, while forward Luis Díaz (who transferred to Bayern Munich for £65.5 million) was also eager to leave the club, having first expressed a desire to seek a new challenge in the summer of 2024.
Elsewhere, striker Darwin Núñez was keen to move to Saudi Arabia after Liverpool had blocked a move in the January window, while the decline of defender Andy Robertson last season made the need to sign a new left back pressing. The tragic death of forward Diogo Jota in July devastated the club emotionally and, on a practical level, also exacerbated Liverpool's need for attacking reinforcements.
Considering the five aforementioned players averaged 2,723 minutes of competitive action last term, it was always likely the Reds would need some time to adjust to their new personnel. What has made that transition harder, though, is the fact that a number of Liverpool's existing stars are not performing at their usual level.
The most obvious example is Mohamed Salah, whose drop-off in form was analyzed in depth by ESPN's Ryan O'Hanlon earlier this week. The Egypt international has been Liverpool's talisman since joining the club in 2017 and enjoyed an extraordinary individual campaign last season, with 34 goals and 23 assists in all competitions.
This season, however, Salah has struggled to hit the same heights, with his non-penalty expected goals plus expected assists (npxG+xA) per 90 minutes currently sitting at 0.34. By comparison, last season he averaged 0.87 npxG+xA per 90 minutes, with the average across his Liverpool career totaling 0.79. The 33-year-old has also attempted just 11 non-penalty shots in seven Premier League games this season, down from 22 after the same number of matches last term.
At the other end of the pitch, Liverpool's central defensive partnership of Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konaté does not look as formidable as it did in 2024-25. Already this season, Slot's side have conceded nine league goals; a threshold they didn't meet until December last season.
At right back, academy product Conor Bradley has lacked the discipline and dynamism that made him such an exciting prospect when he broke into the first team under Klopp in 2023-34; while, in midfield, Mac Allister looks like a pale imitation of the player who deservedly earned a place in the PFA Team of the Year for 2025.
So far, the introduction of several new faces to a group of players operating well below their usual standard has proved a troubling combination.
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Tough start has compounded struggles
Alongside the plethora of problems plaguing Liverpool at the moment is a relatively simple fact that has perhaps been overlooked: The champions have had a very tough start.
When assessing the difficulty of each Premier League team's first five fixtures, Opta ranked Liverpool fifth, behind Manchester United, Arsenal, Bournemouth and Everton. While the Gunners deserve enormous credit for having navigated difficult away trips to Old Trafford, Anfield and St. James' Park, Slot's side have also had a very tricky run.
In their seven league games this season, Liverpool have played five of the current top eight. Of course, it is still very early days and the table is yet to fully take shape, but the Reds have so far encountered some of the division's most in-form teams and have played just one of the current bottom six (Burnley, away from home).
Arsenal, by comparison, have already faced three of the bottom six at home (Nottingham Forest, Leeds United and West Ham United), with just two of their seven games coming against teams in the top eight (defeat away to Liverpool and draw at home to Manchester City).
Still, Arsenal have been impressive this term and, according to Opta, are the current favorites to win the title. Where Liverpool look unbalanced and defensively vulnerable, Arteta's side look cohesive and well-structured and, with a relatively kind fixture list in the coming weeks, the Gunners could build up a healthy lead at the top.
That said, it is a long season. Between Nov. 22-Jan. 3, seven of Liverpool's nine games are against teams that currently sit in the bottom half of the table. If they can stay within touching distance of Arsenal until then, there will still be all to play for.
However, if Liverpool can't find solutions to the problems that have blighted the early months of their season, they could soon find themselves with too much to do.
"It was always going to be a difficult season"
Arne Slot reflects on an emotional victory for Liverpool over Bournemouth in their Premier League opener.
It is impossible to assess Liverpool's start to the campaign without acknowledging the turmoil Slot and his players have had to endure this summer.
The loss of beloved striker Jota just a few months ago rocked the football world, and while it is difficult to measure how grief has affected performance levels, it stands to reason his passing will have a lasting impact on those who knew him best -- something captain Van Dijk alluded to after the Chelsea game.
"It was always going to be a difficult season," he said. "I mentioned it from the very start already. We have to go through this as one, not only us as players but also the staff, and our fans who celebrated being champions, which is something we shouldn't forget."
After all, it was not long ago that several members of the first-team squad looked visibly moved as supporters paid tribute to Jota during a preseason friendly against Preston North End. Even less time has elapsed since Salah broke down in tears on the pitch at Anfield as fans sang their No. 20's name following Liverpool's 4-2 victory over AFC Bournemouth.
The fact that Slot's side are only a point off the top of the table, having had so much to contend with emotionally, warrants credit. Though Liverpool clearly have a number of issues to solve on the pitch, it is important to remember that footballers do not exist in a vacuum, and while the news cycle invariably moves on, the effects of grief can often be profound and enduring.