Arne Slot has conceded that he is still searching for solutions to Liverpool’s tactical problems after their 3-2 defeat to Brentford condemned the reigning Premier League champions to a fourth successive league loss.
The Reds fell behind early through Dango Ouattara’s opener before Kevin Schade doubled the hosts’ lead before the break.
Milos Kerkez pulled one back on the stroke of half-time, but Igor Thiago’s penalty shortly after the restart restored Brentford’s two-goal advantage.
Mohamed Salah ended the longest goal drought of his Liverpool career with a superb late strike, yet it proved to be merely a consolation as the visitors failed to find an equaliser.
The result means Liverpool have now suffered four consecutive league defeats, following earlier losses to Manchester United, Chelsea, and Crystal Palace.
Slot admitted after the game that he and his players have struggled to cope with teams employing a more direct approach, a tactic that once again exposed Liverpool’s vulnerabilities at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday evening.
“Teams have a certain playing style against us, which is a very good strategy to play and we haven’t found an answer yet,” the Reds head coach said.
“Going down 1-0 every time doesn’t help either. Teams know which strategy to play against us.
“Even when we didn’t play well today we still scored twice from open play but you can’t compete up there (at the top of the table) because we simply concede too many goals.
“It’s not just the defence, it’s the 11 players together. It definitely also has to do with if you change quite a lot in the summer then it’s not a surprise it can go a bit like this.
“I didn’t expect it to be four losses in a row, let that be clear. It’s not an excuse but the last six we played the last five have been away and that’s not helpful.
“When we were 1-0 down, that was the only 20-35 minutes that I liked. Unfortunately we had a great moment with Florian (Wirtz) that didn’t lead to a goal.
“Those moments can get you back in the game and give you energy. But then at 35 minutes they took the game again, Brentford did many things well.
“It wasn’t as if the second half was completely ours, that definitely wasn’t the situation. They were in the game a lot and although we made it 3-2 they also had moments to make it 4-1.”
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