Reds' title defence already looks over as Slot faces crisis

ON the evening when the clocks officially went back, Arne Slot might have been tempted to set his own to April of this year.

- By PAUL GORST

Back then, the world looked to have his Liverpool team’s oyster as they were crowned Premier League champions with four games to spare on one of the most joyous of Anfield afternoons.

Since then, the tide has turned; a big-spending summer, to the tune of around £450million, has seen an enormous level of turnover in the playing staff and the changes have so far yielded little in return.

Slot, whether he is inclined to agree or not, is now facing the biggest crisis of his Liverpool reign as a result.

Forget talk of defending the title; that ship looks like it is setting sail before Halloween and the champions might find themselves 10 points behind Arsenal by the time they next play, against Aston Villa at Anfield on Saturday evening.

And perhaps the toughest thing to stomach for the away fans as they watched their team lose 3-2 here against Brentford was just how predictable this all was.

Liverpool were found wanting horribly when challenged to stand up to the strengths of their hosts in west London.

Despite hammering Eintracht Frankfurt in their own backyard on Wednesday night, it was always going to be this trip to the Gtech Community Stadium that revealed whether or not they had made it out of the woods.

They were given their answer in emphatic fashion as Brentford’s direct, physical approach worked a charm.