Balance of fluid attack with defensive steel evades Slot

Halfway into Arne Slot’s debut campaign at Liverpool, they had 46 points and a six-point lead over rivals who had played a game more. Halfway into his sophomore season, and they are in fourth place. Is that fair? “Yeah, yeah,” Slot concurred.

- RICHARD JOLLY SENIOR FOOTBALL CORRESPONDENT

It is an illustration that it has not gone entirely according to plan. Given that two-thirds of their £450m outlay went on attack-minded players, it feels an indictment that only one player has more league goals than Ryan Gravenberch or, in all competitions, than Dominik Szoboszlai.

It meant that, even though the New Year's Day 0-0 draw with Leeds was the first goalless game of Slot's reign, it reflected wider issues. When Hugo Ekitike, the runaway leader in the scoring charts, has an off night, it is not clear who will find the net.

If Liverpool seemed to have assembled a fab four in the summer, a quartet who threatened to be unstoppable, it has not transpired that way.

Alexander Isak is injured, as he often has been. Mohamed Salah is at the African Cup of Nations, as he always would be, but only after being dropped, with his future in doubt, and when his omission from the team was accompanied by a tactical rethink. Florian Wirtz was ineffective against Leeds and is troubled by a minor hamstring injury.

Liverpool, the team that seemed built to blow opponents away, have now adopted a less ambitious design. They are Slot's 20 per cent men. "Every single game we play, it's hard work, it's two teams quite close to each other," he explained. "We are mainly the team that is probably better than the other team, but not enough. We are constantly within this 20 per cent difference."