Liverpool have ripped up everything that won them the title ...Middle East

Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool (Caicedo 14’, Estevao 90+6| Gakpo 63’)

STAMFORD BRIDGE — It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when Arne Slot realised it was happening again, for the third time in a week, but there were early clues.

At a wind-whipped Stamford Bridge, within five minutes Slot could be seen jabbing a finger at Dominik Szoboszlai, who seemed to be being blown rightwards out of his central role. The logic went that by just dropping Florian Wirtz and moving Szoboszlai away from full-back, Liverpool would revert to the midfield that won them the title. It was never going to be that simple.

Barely any of the components that made them champions are working in sync. Behind Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister is unfit. A fortnight ago, Ryan Gravenberch was being spoken about as the world’s best midfielder and now he is struggling with basic transitions.

Mo Salah did not manage a shot on target and squandered Wirtz’s best bit of work, a gorgeous pirouette to set the Egyptian away early in the second half. Salah looked as dazzled as anyone by the glint of a gold-laden front line, where Alexander Isak drifted from the left instead of staying put and Cody Gakpo tired quickly.

So back to basics did not work, which begs the question of where Slot turns next. Axing £116m Wirtz was the popular call, the scapegoat of Liverpool’s erratic early season – doing the same to Salah would take nerves of steel but it now requires serious consideration.

It has been too easy to blame Wirtz – a 22-year-old still adapting to a new country and a more intense battle before him every week – when the old guard continue to flounder. There was nothing to be done about Moises Caicedo’s rocket of an opener, except a piledriver who only scores screamers should not really have been allowed the space.

Ibrahima Konate improved but did not last the full 90 after a knock. Instead of turning to Joe Gomez, Slot threw on Curtis Jones and shifted Gravenberch to centre-back. The idea was sound: that the opportunity cost of adding in another defender would stifle Liverpool creatively in some of their better spells. As it stands, though, they are too vulnerable in too many areas, including in both full-back positions, where Conor Bradley and Milos Kerkez were overwhelmed.

Estêvão scores in STOPPAGE-TIME to put Chelsea back in front at Stamford Bridge! pic.twitter.com/cccm60kMY6

For the good bits, it was hard to tell which were by accident and which by design. Did Isak mean that touch? The hope is he will get up to speed soon but it will take time for him to build the telepathy with those running in behind him that Luis Diaz had last season.

And on another day, Szoboszlai’s push on Alejandro Garnacho inside the box might have been given. Slot resorted to “diving” hand gestures yet he looked perturbed by what he was seeing.

Contrast his weekend to his opposite number. Estevao will go down as the match-winner but it was really as much Enzo Maresca’s triumph as any player’s, his substitutions and the way he overcame an almost comical injury situation at centre-back making the difference.

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Slot can point out there are various intangibles that are combining against his side. The biggest of all, and it cannot really be overstated, is that for all the counselling and support his players were offered in the summer following the loss of Diogo Jota, it was inconceivable that their performances would not dip to some degree.

There is a whole international break to search for answers to a third straight defeat, the first time Liverpool have suffered such a run since January 2017.

Solutions will have to come quickly, for in the meantime it was not Maresca’s miracle men who were the real winners, but table-toppers Arsenal. It is their title to lose.

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