Arne Slot has clear objective for after international break as tactical headache worsens

All things considered, Arne Slot can be happy that his most testing time in charge of Liverpool has only left his side one point off top in the Premier League. And with all three defeats settled on fine margins, as the manager was at pains to point out, the hysteria contained within some of the fallout is undoubtedly over the top.

It's not unexpected, simply because Liverpool has grown accustomed to winning. Slot, who did so much to set that expecatation last season, is now a victim of his own high standards.

But you can simultaneously shake your head at the head-loss, and acknowledge that certain things simply are not working for Liverpool right now, with the onus on Slot to find the answers. While Florian Wirtz has been the poster-boy for many of the issues, there are elements of dysfunction all over the pitch, not least when it comes to Mohamed Salah.

The Egyptian has not begun the season at his sparkling best. He is 33 now, so people will inevitably begin to question whether Liverpool might be starting to regret that new contract — Michael Edwards is reluctant to hand out deals to over-30s for a good reason, after all.

But Salah has been written off as over the hill more than once, never accurately. And when more or less everyone looks out of sorts, there is nearly always an underlying cause, rather than a dramatic mass drop-off in individual levels.

One perfectly valid factor to bring up is the death of Diogo Jota, which will still be affecting all of his former teammates. Virgil van Dijk made an allusion to that after the Chelsea game, and the reaction he received in some quarters was a disgrace.

But there are other elements at play as well. And Slot's clear objective over the course of the international break is to figure out what he is doing with Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike.

Isak was a target all summer, and Liverpool still knew it had a very real prospect of completing that deal when it moved for Ekitike. The idea that the Reds dropped an initial $93 million (£69 million) on the Frenchman just to spite Newcastle is clearly ridiculous: there has always been a plan that involved bringing in both of them.

It's also a little hard to believe that Ekitike was signed as effectively a luxury back-up to Isak. While it's true that having multiple world-class players for every position is part of the modern game, given the number and intensity of fixtures, there was surely an intention that they might be able to operate together.

Slot has insisted that he sees both of them primarily as number nines, and that he has no imminent plans to move to a two-striker formation. However, he conceded that playing them together is an option, and that their form could force the issue on that front.

Ekitike has already expedited that conversation. He's probably been Liverpool's most effective player so far this season, and leaving him on the bench for 70 minutes while the Reds struggle for goals is not helping anybody.

Slot also has the option of just choosing Ekitike over Isak, but that would be counter-productive in the long term. There's an acceptance that the record signing needs time to get up to speed after missing all of preseason, and making him be the one to settle for cameos off the bench does no good either.

The pair of them are meant to be the eventual plan for reducing reliance on Salah. Their goals should help carry the veteran through slightly leaner spells, giving him a platform to contribute his magic while ensuring that an off-day does not effectively end Liverpool's chances of success.

So one way or another, Slot needs to get Ekitike and Isak into his starting line-up. It won't be a magic fix to all the issues we've seen this season, but it's an important start.

There's no denying that the defense is far too open, and that the forward line is also struggling with a lack of service from further back. But as Slot has pointed out, more incision in the final third would have flipped the script in all of the recent losses.

Against Galatasaray, Liverpool missed a chance right before the opponent went up the other end and won a penalty. Chelsea was almost comically open before the Blues eventually found the winner.

Even in the Crystal Palace game, Liverpool turned things around at half time, generating five big chances after the break. Isak and Ekitike together with fitness and rhythm would at the very least paper over a lot of other cracks.

They obviously won't score every chance, and indeed it was Ekitike who missed the opening against Galatasaray. But the chances of finding the net are clearly higher in a world where Liverpool plays to both of their strengths.

How Liverpool gets them on the pitch together is something for Slot to ponder over the international break. Ekitike at left wing is the most obvious potential solution, with Cody Gakpo out of sorts, but playing with two strikers should not be written off either.

However he does it, this should be Slot's next goal. Liverpool's outlay on Ekitike and Isak combined could rise to $275 million (£204 million), and it's time to entrust them to start repaying it in goals.