With a positive start to the season under their belts, Arne Slot’s Liverpool had a very tough week ahead, with three away matches against Crystal Palace, Galatasaray and Chelsea all in the space of seven days. This particular week would prove to be the hardest yet for the Dutchman, with a few questions starting to be asked.

A Community Shield repeat

Selhurst Park is always one of the most difficult places to go during any Premier League campaign, especially under Oliver Glaser. The Austrian has turned the stadium into some what of a fortress, with the London side on a 17 game unbeaten run in all competition, this was always going to be a tough encounter for the Reds.

Palace had already got the better of Liverpool this season, winning the Community Shield on penalties at the start of the season and keeping Marc Guehi from making the move to Anfield in the summer transfer window, so you could say they had won twice!

With the only unbeaten sides left in the league going head-to-head, it promised to be an exciting match, and it certainly was.

It was the home side that sprung out of the blocks, leaving the champions shocked, as Ismaila Sarr fired the ball past a helpless Alisson, after the Reds were unable to clear the corner.

Slot’s men looked sleepy in the first 45, as the South London side continued to test the Brazilian in the Liverpool net on multiple occasions.

Really it should’ve been more than 1-0 at half time. Alisson saving Liverpool several times, making world class save after world class save.

The Reds did improve in the second half, maintaining possession of the ball much better, but still struggling to create clear-cut opportunities, a theme that has been fairly constant through the early part of the season so far.

However, as it looked like the game was going to petter away, Federico Chiesa appeared.

Many fans had called for the Italian to start, after his performance in the Carabao Cup against Southampton in midweek, though it was only 16 minutes for the winger to make an impact, and he certainly did that.

The ball fell to Chiesa inside the Palace box from a bouncing ball courtesy of a Ryan Gravenberch cross and with only three minutes left the Italians cool finish gave no chance for Dean Henderson, 1-1.

But this time there was not to be a late winner for the travelling Kopites in London, but instead the complete opposite.

In the seventh minute of stoppage time, a long throw was sent into the Liverpool box and after a few failed attempts to clear from the men in cream, it fell to Eddie Nkietah on the far side of Alisson’s box, who smashed it past the keeper giving all three points to Palace.

I guess that’s what you get when you score so many late winners.

A first loss of the season for Slot and a lot of negativity from certain fans afterwards as well. Could the Dutchman quickly turn this around?

Not so much the miracle of Istanbul

After a painful loss to Palace in the league on the Saturday, Slot had only two days to dust his sides miseries off, with a trip to Istanbul on the Tuesday.

Istanbul has a special place in the hearts of the Liverpool fanbase, for obvious reasons, so the travelling support were hoping for another successful night in the Turkish capital.

Unfortunately, just like against Palace, it was another poor start from the Reds, who conceded an early penalty as Dominik Szoboszlai’s arm hit Baris Alper Yilmaz in the face. A soft penalty some might say.

Either way, Victor Osimhen didn’t care, with the Nigerian stepping up and cooly dispatching the spot kick past the diving Alisson, 1-0.

And that was the only goal of the affair, with the rare occasion that Slot’s side were unable to hit the back of the net at all, so definitely not a 3-3!

Another negative of the night was the injury to Liverpool’s number one Alisson, with the Brazilian going off with what has now been confirmed as a hamstring injury, that is said to keep him out for at least six weeks, a big blow for the champions.

So, the week continued in despair and with only one game left before the October international break, Slot was hoping to send his players away with a bit of positivity, after losing two games in a row.

Roll on the international break

The Reds had one more chance to salvage something from what had been a dreadful week by the clubs high standards, before all the internationals go to their respective camps for a couple of weeks.

Unfortunately, this game wasn’t against a struggling side at home, but away, at Stamford Bridge, a place where Liverpool have struggled over recent years.

The trend of the week seemed to be that Slot’s side would start slow and concede on early goal and again this was the case on Saturday.

This time a rocket from the edge of the box from Moises Caicedo gave the London side the lead, however the way the Chelsea midfielder ploughed through the middle of the pitch should be a concern to the visitors midfielders.

From there it was a fairly equal game, with both sides limited to a few chances, with the better ones going to Chelsea on the whole.

However, the Reds dug deep and came out playing much better in the second half and got their rewards for the effort, after a lovely controlled touch from Alexander Isak found Cody Gakpo in front of Robert Sanchez’s goal, allowing the Dutchman to fire the ball home, 1-1.

But it just seemed to be a week to forget for Arne Slot and his side, as in the fifth minute of added time Estevao scored the winner for Chelsea, with a well taken finish at the back post.

That was it. A third defeat on the bounce for the Reds and plenty for Slot and his staff to ponder over the international break.

I think plenty of Liverpool fans around the world will be welcoming the international fixtures and hoping that when club football returns, the champions can put this poor week behind them and get back to winning ways.