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Arne Slot has acknowledged that Liverpool is finding it challenging to adjust to a fresh playing style — but he says it was necessary to adapt after a Premier League title-winning campaign last season.
The Reds enter the weekend sitting at the summit of the table. Nevertheless, questions surround their recent form after suffering consecutive defeats for just the second occasion under Slot, following last weekend's 2-1 loss at Crystal Palace and Tuesday's 1-0 Champions League setback against Galatasaray in Istanbul.
Earlier patchy displays in this campaign were disguised by several late match-winners, with Liverpool yet to find its groove despite investing nearly around $600M in new signings including Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak during the summer.
Slot, whose team face Chelsea on Saturday, has revealed the substantial outlay was chiefly triggered by recognizing the Reds had begun to struggle with unlocking opposition defences through open play last term.
"We were very happy winning the league, but we didn't shut our eyes for the second part of the season, how many times we needed a set-piece to win, which is not something bad because Arsenal and Chelsea are needing a set-piece almost every single game at the moment," the Liverpool head coach said.
"That's why we also had the window that we had — sometimes to replace, sometimes to add a certain quality.
"And it's up to us to show that we can do better in these kinds of games than we did in the second part of last season and the first part of this season.
"In the meantime, we almost won every single game (this season). But the margins are not the same anymore as the first part of the last season, with 3-0 against Bournemouth, 6-3 at Tottenham and 5-0 at West Ham.
"And then you depend a bit more on luck or bad luck or on a set-piece.
"We are trying to go to a situation where we don't need a set-piece to win a game or we don't need someone to fall on the ground to get a penalty, or a referee to do extra time of extra time of extra time. That is something we dislike."
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With Alisson Becker sidelined for several weeks due to a hamstring injury sustained in Turkey, Giorgi Mamardashvili is set to make his Premier League bow following his $39 million (£29 million) summer switch from Valencia.
Slot remains optimistic that attacking pair Hugo Ekitike and Federico Chiesa will be fit for selection after the former was substituted during the Galatasaray clash and the latter was absent entirely.
Mohamed Salah, Alexander Isak, Alexis Mac Allister and Conor Bradley, meanwhile, are all pushing for recalls having been rested in midweek. Chelsea will be without as many as nine players including star man Cole Palmer.
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