It was all smiles in the Liverpool camp just six months ago, when Arne Slot – in his debut campaign at Anfield since leaving Feyenoord – comprehensively guided the Reds to their first Premier League title since the 2019-20 season, and only their second-ever league title in the Premier League era.
As if the league title wasn't enough, Liverpool splashed almost £450 million (€512m/$595m) on transfers over the summer. They broke the British transfer record – twice – first by signing Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen in a move worth £116m (€132m/$153m), before pulling out all the stops to capture Alexander Isak's signature from Newcastle United under controversial circumstances. The deadline day operation cost the Merseyside giants £125m (€142m/$165m). Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez were acquired to succeed one of the most lethal full-back pairings to have ever graced the English top-flight in Trent Alexander-Arnold, who joined Real Madrid, and the gradually ageing Andy Robertson, respectively.
While the adaptation period of almost all summer signings wasn't immediate, Slot's troops conjured a five-game winning streak to begin the defence of their league crown. However, they have since fallen apart like a house of cards. The season began with a Community Shield defeat to Crystal Palace, but that only proved to be a minor blip as they won the next seven games on the trot across all competitions. What has unfolded in the past few months, though, has been absolutely shocking. Before Sunday's 2-0 win over West Ham, Liverpool lost nine of their previous 12 games. The highs of finishing the summer with an all-timer transfer window quickly turned into the lowest of the lows, even calling into question whether Slot is good enough to steer the seemingly sinking ship of England's champions.
