6 days ago
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Arne Slot has been told to figure out a plan for Liverpool quickly as the Reds look to arrest a slump that is derailing their season.
Liverpool has lost five of its last six games in all competitions, with four of those losses coming in the Premier League, which has seen the team drop down from first to seventh in the standings.
Saturday's defeat by Brentford was arguably the worst loss that Liverpool has experienced all season, and former Reds star John Aldridge has spoken about how disappointed he was with what he saw from his old club at the Gtech Community Stadium.
"I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Giorgi Mamardashvili play a couple of poor passes out wide to Conor Bradley to concede throw-ins in dangerous areas for Brentford inside the first few minutes," Aldridge said in his column for the Liverpool Echo. "Dango Ouattara gets the early goal and then once more Liverpool are left with it all to do.
"Mamardashvili should have known about the throw-in problems that Brentford could cause and there will have been no shame in him pumping the ball long instead of difficult passes out wide to keep possession. It was so naive and it baffled me.
"It boiled my blood seeing it unfold and Virgil van Dijk and Slot both said after the game that defending long throws was something they worked on all week in training. Clearly not enough work went into that."
Liverpool head coach Slot has faced criticism in recent weeks for the team's struggles, and Aldridge has told the Dutchman he needs to figure out a way to get the team winning again.
"Slot needs to figure out a plan, quickly, to get his team back on the right path," Aldridge added. "It looked like a big step forward had been taken in Frankfurt last week, but Saturday was as bad as it has been all season.
"Managers sometimes say there is no Plan B, but that is nonsense, they have to have one and the Reds boss needs to get his thinking cap on to devise a way out of the woods. It's a concern that he admitted he is yet to figure out how to counteract the fact that teams now know how to beat us.
"Is it time for a different system? Two holding midfielders who can sit in and help the defence would be a big help for now and then, in time, you can look to give proper service to the type of forwards who will always score goals. Something needs to change because, right now, Liverpool - the Premier League champions - are miles off it."
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