Alan Shearer believes that one of Liverpool’s summer signings has got worse under Arne Slot after their 2-1 win over Everton on Saturday.
Liverpool continued their perfect start to the season as first-half goals from Ryan Gravenberch and Hugo Ekitike guided them to victory over their Merseyside rivals.
But despite the victory, it was another far-from-perfect performance from the Reds, whose performances have not quite matched their results so far this season.
Defensively, Slot’s side have looked more vulnerable far this campaign and Shearer believes the defending champions were fortunate to hold on for all three points after Idrissa Gueye’s strike had given Everton hope in the second half.
‘Yeah, the first half, I thought they were the much better team. They deserve their lead. They played some bright, energetic football,’ he told NBC Sports.
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‘But I think second half, it sort of slipped into what we’ve seen in the first four games. I thought Everton were the better team, they deserved to get back into the game, and I think they’ll think themselves unlucky not to get something out of the game.
‘They created one or two chances, a brilliant finish from Idrissa Gueye that gave them that bit of a lifeline. They were the team that were pushing. They were the team that had the energy, and I thought they were unlucky not to get a point.’
Despite arriving for big money in the summer, both Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz started on the bench on Saturday, only introduced for the final half an hour of action at Anfield.
And Shearer highlighted left-back Milos Kerkez as another summer signing who has not quite adapted yet to the tactical demands and style of Slot’s Liverpool.
‘At the minute we are not seeing the same player in Kerkez that we saw when he was down at Bournemouth,’ Shearer noted.
‘He was free flowing, he had the license to go and roam and get forward, where, to me, [he now] seems as if he’s caught in two minds, whether he’s going to go, whether he’s on to stay and help protect that with Van Dijk and Konate.
‘I just don’t think they’ve got the balance right at the at this minute. And I think one of the reasons why he left [Florian] Wirtz] on the bench and [Alexander] Isak on the bench is because he went back to norm.
‘He went back to what they had last season, because he just felt in this game with the hustle and bustle and the energy that was going to be needed, I think he went back to his tried and trusted of the three.
‘And I think, yeah, there’s plenty to work on for Liverpool, where you have to say, without playing well again, they’ve won the game, and that has to be a big bonus for them.’
One player who did emerge from Saturday’s win with plenty of credit, though, is goalscorer, Gravenberch, with Michael Owen confident the Dutch midfielder is now a £100million player.
‘He is seriously talented, he could do anything,’ Owen told Premier League Productions. ‘Bayern Munich, they must be scratching their heads thinking, ‘wow, why have we let him go?’, because he can be absolutely anything.
‘If he was playing for another team now, everybody would be after him as a new No.6, sitting midfield player, thinking £100 million plus.’
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