Liverpool’s Autumn Struggles: Can the Champions Stop the Slide?

The clocks have gone back and the last warmth of summer has given way to a familiar chill that will linger until spring offers some respite. This turning of the seasons usually marks the start of the slog through the colder months and the war of attrition between the Premier League’s best clubs. For Liverpool Football Club, this is traditionally when they begin to show their mettle. Yet after four straight league defeats that leave them seven points behind Arsenal, the question is whether the Reds’ title defence is already over.

The Odds Paint a Bleak Picture

The answer may lie in the latest odds for the outright winner of the Premier League. At least, if you were placing a football bet on Liverpool to recover and lift the trophy, you’d find Arne Slot’s men out at 7/1.

Ominously, the Premier League betting markets price Arsenal at just 2/5 to win their first title since 2004. So, is it over already, and what exactly is going wrong tactically for the Reds?

Cracks in the Foundation

Liverpool’s recent defeats have followed a worrying pattern. Slot admitted after the 3–2 loss at Brentford that opponents “have found a playing style against us,” and the evidence supports him. Each of Brentford’s goals mirrored earlier concessions this season: poor defending of long throws, being caught in transition, and losing aerial duels in key areas.

Brentford won most of the early headers and Liverpool never really got to grips with it. The back four looked unsure, caught under second balls and slow to react when runners slipped in behind. You could see the same pattern that’s crept in against Palace and Bournemouth too; a simple throw or cross, someone switches off, and the whole move unravels.

Further up the pitch, the press just isn’t biting. With Alexis Mac Allister still finding rhythm and Dominik Szoboszlai asked to carry more of the creative burden, the midfield looks soft. There’s no clear balance between control and aggression, and when that first line of pressure is broken, Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konaté are left doing far too much firefighting.

Lost rhythm in attack

Even going forward it feels muddled. Salah keeps drifting inside and ends up with his back to goal, while whoever is playing left back behind him makes run after run on the overlap and barely sees the ball. It’s disjointed, the sort of attacking shape that looks like a team still trying to remember how to play together.

Slot’s effort to balance width with directness has yet to settle. Even when they pulled one back at Brentford, it came from a rare cross rather than the slick passing moves that once defined Liverpool. The tempo that used to suffocate opponents just isn’t there right now.

Can Slot turn it around?

These problems go deeper than a bad month. The fixture list — five of the last six away from Anfield — offers some excuse, but champions are judged on resilience. Slot’s Liverpool still show flashes of quality, but too often they look uncertain, physically second best and short of belief.

There is time to fix it, but not much. As the cold nights draw in, the warmth of early-season optimism has faded, replaced by the chill of reality. Unless Liverpool find their defensive shape and attacking rhythm again soon, this title race could be over long before the daffodils bloom on Merseyside.