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Maintain serenity. This was the Zen-like advice offered by the Dutch defender and the academy graduate midweek as the team processed back-to-back defeats for the second occasion under their head coach.

The manager was relaxed and upbeat in his latest address, interspersing several spontaneous points that the squad he was supporting from rare scrutiny are top of the English top division. Anew. However beneath the soothing messages and positive standings, there are indisputable concerns with the club's form that, according to Slot himself, go beyond than the initial 10 games of the term.

“We were extremely pleased securing the league,” remarked the head coach. “However we didn't close our vision for the latter half of the term to the frequency with which we needed a dead-ball situation [to win].”

Last season's title winners have not been finding it difficult to generate opportunities from open play or to convert extended periods with the ball into convincing victories since August, their manager maintained. Liverpool have actually been facing difficulties to do both starting in the midpoint of last season, when rivals changed their strategies to contain the Reds, and are still searching for answers.

Statistical Evidence

Figures corroborate the manager. During the initial 19 league games of his maiden term, the team notched 47 goals with 85.1% (the vast majority) coming from general play. During the last 19 league games, Liverpool managed 39 goals, of which 27 (just over two-thirds) were from open play. The reduction was improved this season, over a small sample size, with 83.3% of Liverpool's twelve league goals scored from general play (eighty-three point three percent).

• Opening phase: the majority of goals from open play
• Last nineteen matches: under seventy percent of goals from open play
• This term: 83.3% of goals from open play

But Liverpool's displays this season, especially the losses at Palace and in Turkey in the period of a few days, can not be linked solely to a dip in corner and free-kick quality only. Even, their seven-game winning streak prior to visiting Selhurst Park was regularly accompanied by the caveat that they won late and/or despite an uneven showing.

Team Issues

The German playmaker is yet to adapt to the pace of the English football and is a expensive signing that the coach is continuing to fit in to full potential. The club's recent defensive signings, one new full-back and his defensive partner, were publicly backed by their head coach ahead of the loss in Turkey but are not yet at the performance of the their predecessors.

The Swedish striker is lacking fitness having spent the break not playing at Newcastle, and Ibrahima Konaté's displays has dipped significantly. The list continues. Solely the young forward, the leader, the Brazilian shot-stopper, who will miss the weekend fixture to Stamford Bridge with a thigh issue, the playmaker and the Dutch midfielder have delivered consistently well in the current campaign.

Key Absence

The Reds urgently require Alexis Mac Allister to restore complete health and his impact over their tempo, control and forward impetus. The South American star was excluded of the last two matches of the prior term to start his rehabilitation from a nagging groin injury and return healthy for the build-up. That was, that was the plan. Mac Allister's rehabilitation was lengthier than expected, the warm-up matches was frequently interrupted as a outcome, and a crucial part in Slot's machine has been unable to finish a full match for his club after the 1-0 win at the King Power Stadium on 20 April.

“It's said he is behind,” the manager stated. “In Holland we say he walks behind the music.” They will be a changed outfit once Mac Allister is orchestrating the engine room alongside Gravenberch anew.

Future Focus

The manager has praised the virtues of adaptability in his new-look squad, with the summer arrivals the German, the Frenchman, Isak and Frimpong capable of perform in a multiple roles, but a team in transition could do with more consistency in selection to hasten the integration.

It's not that we change our approach but I observe rivals doing a lot of strategies in a changed manner against us,” he stated. “My predecessor passed on a lot of benefits but a particular advantage he gave me was concluding in the top three the previous season and in fifth position the year before that.”

The Reds have enough world-class talent to fix their patchy displays, as Curtis Jones commented recently, but the coach concedes the answer is trickier than relying on Wirtz and the striker to find their form. Stamford Bridge might prove a good place to start, however.

There are multiple factors,” the boss said. “In what way can we locate our wide players? Do we find them frequently and in promising situations {like we did|as we managed|similar