After a poor loss against Chelsea, Liverpool found themselves with three defeats in the last three games and with an international break on the horizon, many Reds were likely happy to have a week off from the stress of being a Liverpool fan, especially with the way the team was playing.

A tough day against the old enemy

The fixtures weren’t to get much easier when the lads returned from their respective international camps as the big rival was back in town, that obviously being Manchester United.

The Red Devils hadn’t won at Anfield for donkey’s years (January 2016 to be in fact) yet despite all the exciting signings, this might have been the visitors best chance to take a win away from one of the hardest places to go in England.

What the hosts needed was a good start, to give themselves some confidence after the defeats of the last couple of weeks. Unfortunately, that is exactly what didn’t happen. United were in front within a minute, yes, a minute.

Right from the get-go we had made it extremely difficult for ourselves, as a collision between Virgil Van Dijk and Alexis Mac Allister sent Bryan Mbuemo through on goal and United’s big money man didn’t disappoint, sending it past a helpless Giorgi Mamardashvili, 0-1 inside a minute.

Some will argue that it should’ve been called back due the Argentine’s head injury, but that doesn’t excuse the poor defending that followed. We only had ourselves to blame.

The rest of the first half was pretty lacklustre, with both sides only really creating one other chance each, Cody Gakpo hitting the post for the Reds whilst Bruno Fernandes sending a shot from the edge of the box round the Georgian’s post. Overall, a poor half.

Gakpo continued to look a threat in the second half, hitting the post another two times before getting his goal. The eventual breakthrough came from a low driven cross from substitute Federico Cheisa, who found the Dutchman right in the middle of the United box and really, he couldn’t miss from that range, 1-1.

Unfortunately for us Reds the celebrations only lasted six minutes. A ball was dinked in by Fernandes and Harry Maguire was chomping at the bit at the back post and it inevitably found his head and into the back of the Liverpool net.

That is how it ended, 2-1 to the visitors and their first win at our sacred ground in nearly 10 years. A result that will hurt for a long time, especially due to who it was against. The run of form from before the internationals continues…

The road back in Europe?

Coming off the back of a few bad defeats the Reds needed to bounce back and create some positivity around the club again. Their chance was an away trip to Frankfurt in the Champions League.

For the second time in a row in Europe Mo Salah was dropped from the starting 11, with Isak, Hugo Ekitike and Gakpo leading the line.

Nerves weren’t helped by another poor start, as the German side carved us completely open to take a 1-0 lead. The team was just passed right through, and it was Kristensen who finished off the well taken team goal.

Thankfully the momentum shifted and we certainly took advantage of it, cause going into the half time break we were now leading 3-1.

A massive shift in the game, with the first coming from Ekitike after being played through one-on-one by a lovely ball by Andy Robertson. The Frenchman scoring against his former club on his first time back and of course he didn’t celebrate!

Just before half-time struck it was the two centre half’s that sent us into a comfortable lead and both from corners. The first was the skipper Van Dijk and that was followed by his partner Ibou Konate.

The goal kept coming for the Reds with an important first contributions for Florian Wirtz, who assisted Gakpo’s goal to make it four, before setting up another, this time Dominik Szoboszlai, who fired it home to 5-1, though honestly most of the credit goes to the Hungarian on that one!

A big win in Europe for the Reds but more importantly a big win for confidence and hopefully the start of the champions getting back to winning ways in the Premier League.

Not what we expected

After the win in Germany, I think there was an expectation for a bit of momentum for the champions, with getting back to winning ways against Brentford being the first step into getting closer to Arsenal again. However, that is definitely not what happened.

A Saturday night game at the GTECH is always a dangerous affair and it started that way. After only five minutes Arne Slot’s men had conceded another early goal. This time by a long throw-in which eventually found the foot of Dango Outtara in the penalty area, who poked it home for 1-0.

Things went from bad to worse as after a pretty poor half from the Reds it looked like it was going to end in disaster as Kevin Schade was sent through one-on-one and made it 2-0 to the hosts.

Thankfully, due a lengthy amount of additional time Milos Kerkez popped up at the back-post and fired the visitors back into it just before the half-time break, sending the sides in 2-1.

Not much changed in the performance in the first 15 of the second period, but the Bees made it 3-1 just on the 60th minute as a lunge from Van Dijk just on the line of the penalty area, gave the hosts the spot kick which was cooly dispatched by Thiago.

From there the game felt flat with Brentford sitting back and Slot’s side unable to break the hosts down. A consolation came through Salah who struck it beautifully on the volley to make it 3-2, but Liverpool couldn’t find the final breakthrough to get themselves level late on. A goal that didn’t deserve to mean nothing. Hopefully it will give the Egyptian some much needed momentum if anything.

Another loss for the champions in the league and the quest of retaining their title looks to be slipping away already. The question is, how much pressure is Slot actually under after this poor run of form?

Throwing it away

With league form severely lacking the Carabao Cup offered Arne Slot the chance to get a good result that would continue the push for a trophy, a trophy that could be vital in finding a positive outcome of the season if there was no league or Champions League coming back to Anfield this season.

This reason alone meant that no one really expected the team that the manager actually put out, a weak first 11 and the most inexperienced bench I have ever seen for a Liverpool senior game. Not one player from the first 11 was on the bench, with Salah, Van Dijk, Ekitike and more sat in the stands and being given the night off.

This may have not been a problem if we were playing perhaps a League 2 side, but Crystal Palace were the opposition, a team that had already beaten our best team twice this season. So, for the first time in many years, Liverpool were going into a game at Anfield as massive underdogs and wow didn’t it show.

For the first 40 minutes the sides were fairly equal, with the Reds keeping most of the ball and the visitors looking for the dangerous counters, the game was going as expected.

But as soon as Palace got their inevitable breakthrough things quickly changed.

On the 41st minute the Londoners got in front, courtesy of an Ismaila Sarr goal. The guy really does love scoring against us doesn’t he. The ball fell to the winger inside our box after a few deflections and he wasn’t going to miss from close range giving Palace the 1-0 lead.

Unfortunately, it got worse before half-time, and the Liverpool side mixed with both young and old looked lost as Palace made it 2-0. The same man again, Sarr, was played through an open Red midfield and it was another calmly taken finish.

In the second half Liverpool created nothing, struggling to get anywhere near the Crystal Palace goal and with no one senior on the bench for a boost, the game fizzled out.

New signing Yeremy Pino made it 3-0 two minutes from the end, but by that time the game was already done, and the Anfield crowd were making their way to the exits in their thousands.

A dreadful night overall and another negative result for Slot, whose team selections probably cost Liverpool, with very little chance of getting anything from the start really.

The manager is the only one who will know the reason behind the starting 11 and even more importantly the bench, but it’s the first competition already gone for Liverpool and with a tough run in the Premier League coming up this team needs to find some performances and wins fast.

It’s now or never

Two losses already in the week for Slot and his side meant that the game at Anfield against Aston Villa was absolutely huge, not just for the morale of the team, but for the manager and keeping his job.

Because of the amount of pressure on this game the team started nervously and so did the supporters, with a tense air around the stands in the opening 15 minutes.

Despite the nerves the Reds managed to get through the impressive Villa start and got themselves into the game.

The breakthrough came through a Salah goal, just before halftime, with a poor pass out from Martinez in the visitors net, the Egyptian had an easy finish, 1-0.

With a massive sigh of relief around Anfield the champions came out strong in the second and were rewarded for it, as in the 58th minute the returning Ryan Gravenberch sent a deflected shot past the bamboozled Argentine in goal. The Dutchman’s absence has been significant and now back from injury it’s a big boost for Liverpool.

From there Slot’s side were able to see it out, winning the game 2-0, to the joy of the Kopites.

A massive win that will hopefully provide some momentum going into the next week, with Real Madrid and Manchester City as the next two for the Redmen.