If there IS a plan, it simply isn't working

SLOT'S POST-MATCH ASSESSMENT WILL SURELY SET ALARM BELLS RINGING

- By PAUL GORST LFC Correspondent:

AT THIS stage of Liverpool’s season, Arne Slot might feel envious that Jay-Z only had 99 Problems.

Having suffered a fourth successive Premier League defeat in Saturday night's 3-2 loss at Brentford, the Reds boss is facing up to the biggest test of his Anfield reign and the issues are piling up.

Slot needs to quickly work out how to arrest a slump that has many - rightly or wrongly - fearing that the defence of the club's 20th league title is over before the Halloween trick-or-treaters have even knocked on.

Such fears might be eased by the fact that only nine games have been played, but league leaders Arsenal could find themselves up to 10 points clear by the time the Reds play again, at home to Aston Villa next Saturday.

There is no quick fix, and it was worrying to hear Slot concede after the defeat to Brentford that he knows how teams are counteracting his own, but he has yet to figure out a plan for it.