Old guard rescues Slot, but Liverpool evolution needed

ARNE Slot finally hit the reset button, ending a bruising four-game losing streak in the league and a meltdown in confidence with Saturday's home win over Aston Villa.

- ROWAN CALLAGHAN

With striker Hugo Ekitike the only new signing starting, Slot seemed to rediscover the balance at the champions by going back to basics.

In so doing, the Liverpool manager is merely kicking the can down the road, with the problem still being: how do you evolve a squad under pressure to play the new stars when the only reliable source of rhythm is the old guard?

That would make sense, with muscle memory from the Jürgen Klopp era, but a transition that once seemed so smooth is looking anything but at the moment.

It was noticeable that Florian Wirtz again struggled to make an impact in his brief cameo, while record signing Alexander Isak is also yet to fire. Defensive reinforcement Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong have also proven poor substitutes for Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson, who did a fine job at left-back after replacing the erratic Kerkez in the starting lineup.