da betobet： Liverpool boss Arne Slot has got much to sit on over the November international break, having been thrashed 3-0 at Manchester City last weekend.
da apostaganha： That one stung. It condemned Liverpool to their fifth defeat in six Premier League matches, and it undid the positivity built across two recent wins over Aston Villa and Real Madrid, clean sheets kept on both evenings.
It was not just the scoreline but the manner of the loss that is so concerning for the Reds, whose title defence is as flaky as could be possible.
In a similar way, it is not Arsenal’s eight-point advantage at the top of the table that is so worrying, but the fact that Slot’s side are so shorn of tactical understanding and confidence within the system.
Changes are needed, even after a summer of record-breaking change in the transfer market.
The changes Slot needs to make at Liverpool
It’s telling that after significant summer spending, Liverpool are still alarmingly thin at the back. Giovanni Leoni’s season-ending injury after joining from Parma for £27m in August has hardly helped, but the failure to land Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi has been underlined in its bungled nature.
Even if Leoni had avoided such a setback, it likely wouldn’t have been enough to make up for the dismal form of Ibrahima Konate, who is out of contract next summer and playing so erratically that many fans have lost the desire to fight online for the defender as Real Madrid continue to circle.
While it’s true that those in central midfield have failed to produce levels of physicality and verve that are needed to balance and combine with a central defence, Konate has done anything but help himself with such shoddy displays, with Sky Sports’ Dougie Critchley labelling the Frenchman “a serious, serious problem”.
Liverpool’s issues run deeper, though. There’s a case to be made that Hugo Ekitike, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak are all ‘better’ players than Luis Diaz, who was sold to Bayern Munich for about £66m in the summer.
However, Lucho has been a cut above all three, and Slot needs to recraft his team and establish a new offensive sharpness and get the best from these big-money recruits who all arrived with such a weight of expectation.
It will come as no surprise that Liverpool are believed to be gearing up for a winter of bustle in the January transfer market, and Spanish sources even claim the Anfield side could part with upward of £200m to fix the faults in the Slot machine.
The dream XI Slot could build at Liverpool
Sporting director Richard Hughes was heralded after the summer transfer window, having overseen a spending spree that journalist Henry Winter described as “probably be the greatest transfer window by a club ever”, albeit a point made before the market’s closure and with the assumption that Guehi would sign too.
However, if Liverpool mean to sign the Three Lions star, they will do so on a free contract next summer, perhaps in a one-in, one-out situation that will see Konate leave.
With that in mind, FSG may look to complete a marquee move for Inter Milan’s Alessandro Bastoni. Earlier this month, reports from Spain suggest the Reds are looking to complete a deal for the Italian, who is valued at €100m (£87m).
Regarded for his “world-class” technical ability by commentator Matteo Bonetti, Bastoni’s ball-playing tendencies would ostensibly pave over the error-strewn struggles of Konate.
But Liverpool’s problems are wider, and there’s a sense that the midfield needs an addition, especially with Alexis Mac Allister so badly out of sorts.
Though this latest rumour might be viewed as something of a pipe dream, there have been murmurs nonetheless of Merseyside interest in Paris Saint-Germain superstar Vitinha, who pipped Mohamed Salah to third place in the 2025 Ballon d’Or.
Vitinha, 25, would certainly not come cheap after orchestrating PSG’s glittering 2024/25 campaign, and it’s reported that a £114m offer might be needed to bring him over to the Premier League.
We cannot deny the Argentina star has been well below his best this season, and Liverpool could do with more press resistance and control in the middle of the park.
Vitinha would solve these issues, hailed by Portugal manager Roberto Martinez as “the best midfielder in the world” for his performances in Paris.
Matches (starts)
11 (9)
10 (9)
Goals
1
0
Assists
6
2
Touches*
117.5
45.1
Accurate passes
102.3 (94%)
30.3 (86%)
Chances created*
1.5
0.9
Dribbles*
0.5
0.0
Recoveries*
4.9
2.9
Tackles + interceptions*
1.2
1.6
Duels (won)*
2.3 (60%)
2.5 (45%)
The vast difference in form between the respective midfielders is staggering, and while Vitinha isn’t a midfielder who gets all that stuck in defensively, his accuracy in the duel and energy in closing down and recovering balls emphasise the quality he would add to Liverpool’s engine room.
Perhaps such an acquisition would rekindle Liverpool’s attacking fire. After all, with the likes of Isak and Ekitike competing for a berth at number nine, Wirtz and Salah and the rest surrounding them, there is every reason for Slot to find a solution and bring this club back to the fore.
Whether Liverpool would actually succeed in pulling off two audacious winter deals is another question, but there’s no question that Hughes is prowling across the market and looking to find ways to revive this struggling side.
With Vitinha and Bastoni restoring balance to the defence and midfield, we might still see another spectacular season.
Liverpool’s dream XI in full: (GK) Alisson; (RB) Conor Bradley, (CB) Alessandro Bastoni, (CB) Virgil van Dijk, (LB) Andy Robertson; (DM) Vitinha, (CM) Ryan Gravenberch, (CM) Dominik Szoboszlai; (RW) Mohamed Salah, (LW) Florian Wirtz, (CF) Alexander Isak
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