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Alan Shearer has had his say on Liverpool losing against Crystal Palace and Galatasaray — suggesting Arne Slot has cause for "concern" after a tricky week.
Liverpool lost 2-1 at Selhurst Park and followed that up with a 1-0 defeat in Istanbul. But it could be argued that the Reds' performances in the early part of the season meant those results were coming.
"Liverpool’s form is not a disaster, but it is cause for concern," Shearer told Betfair. "Particularly with what's happened in the last two games. They got away with it a bit in terms of scoring late goals and winners this season and we all said it was a positive, which it was.
"If you're not playing well but still winning games, it must be a positive. But they haven't played well in the last two games and have lost them both. That would be a concern, particularly the way they've lost the games.
"Against Crystal Palace, they should've been four or five down at half-time and that's no exaggeration. But for the brilliance of Alisson, who got injured on Tuesday night, incidentally.
"Tuesday night, Slot made changes and he's still searching for a formation that allows the new players to come into Liverpool and do well. He left Salah out, which he can do because of the workload and the games that Liverpool have coming up.
"He tried Jeremie Frimpong on the right of a three up front, played a midfielder at right-back when he had a right-back on the bench in Conor Bradley.
"So yeah, he's still searching for that right formation that'll make them tick, tough to beat, and make them as good as they were last season.
"The last two games, they have been miles off it. They didn't deserve anything from the Galatasaray game. They didn't play well enough, and it wasn't just in forward positions that it didn’t work.
"Defensively, again, they were terrible. They're still trying to find a balance in terms of protecting Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk.
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"The number of times they got in between the center halves and full-backs, Konate and Van Dijk were isolated and couldn't cope.
"There's plenty to work on for Liverpool, but I wouldn't call it a disaster just yet. You can't because they're still top of the Premier League. Things have to improve, and Slot has to find the balance pretty quickly."
Liverpool.com says: While Shearer is right to say that the games with Crystal Palace and Galatasaray were worrying, Liverpool does remain top of the Premier League table and in a good position to qualify in the Champions League.
Things have not gone smoothly yet but Florian Wirtz is too good to fail in England and Alexander Isak is still getting himself fit. It was always going to take a bit of time to adjust with so many changes happening during the summer.
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