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Liverpool has won both of its Premier League matches so far this season. It has had an exciting summer in the transfer market. And yet, Arne Slot knows there is still plenty of work to do.
It would be reasonable to think that Liverpool will successfully get more control of games in the future. It was far too open against Bournemouth (though it is no coincidence that Ryan Gravenberch was missing there), while Newcastle presented a unique challenge where very little undisrupted soccer was played.
But there is another issue that will perhaps not be quite so straightforward to fix. Last season, it was the matches where Liverpool couldn't compete physically that caused problems.
That was how Newcastle United won the Carabao Cup, for instance, and how PSG overpowered the Reds in Paris in the Champions League. And there is something of a question mark remaining now.
This summer, Liverpool has added two full-backs in Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong who are not particularly tall, for all the other attributes that they bring to the table.
In the number 10 role, Florian Wirtz offers a huge variety of pluses, but physicality — at least in terms of winning aerial duels — isn't one of them. As a result, a midfield of, say, the German, Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister is relying on technique over height.
Against Newcastle this week, even the taller players — Virgil van Dijk aside — were not especially effective in the air. Cody Gakpo should win more headers given his frame, while Ibrahima Konate should have done better when Will Osula got in behind to equalize.
"We could have made it a lot easier for ourselves, I think," Van Dijk told reporters at St James' Park on Monday. "We don't want to concede goals, and I think today we conceded two goals from set-pieces.
"We defended all night pretty well, but those two goals got Newcastle back in the game and gave them belief. That is something we have to keep working on, and we will."
Individually and collectively, Liverpool needs to improve when it comes to defending those situations.
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"If we didn't concede the set-pieces, I think it was no problem," Van Dijk said. "That is the feeling that we had. Obviously they were still trying [when down to 10 men] but we controlled it and kept the ball pretty well.
"We were solid. But one set piece brings them back into the game and gives them belief. The fans get behind them, and then it is game on."
If Liverpool were to bring in Marc Guehi, the Crystal Palace captain would likely add something when it comes to battling with teams who play long or from set-pieces.
But even if that happens, the whole defensive set-up cannot be as reliant on Van Dijk as it was against Newcastle. A few days before facing Arsenal — a team that focuses on dead-ball situations at least as much as any other — it is something that needs addressing.
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