Jamie Carragher has said that Liverpool still need to prove one thing in particular since Arne Slot took charge over the summer.
The Dutchman has made a flying start in the Anfield dugout, winning nine of his first 10 matches, with the home defeat to Nottingham Forest last month the only blot on his copybook.
Carragher on Liverpool ‘worry’
Speaking ahead of this afternoon’s clash against Chelsea, Carragher claimed that Slot’s Liverpool have yet to show that they can rally late on in matches in the same manner that they so often did under Jurgen Klopp.
The pundit said on Sky Sports: “Normally if Liverpool were losing at home under Jurgen Klopp, the last 15-20 minutes, the place would be like a madhouse with chances at either end.
“The worry going forward for Liverpool under Slot is, when they’re in games like that – it could happen today with 15-20 minutes to go – that’s still the one question in these early weeks. Could Liverpool break someone down if they need a goal late on?”
Thankfully we haven’t needed late heroics too often under Slot
The good news is that there’s only been one instance so far under Slot where Liverpool have needed to come up with a late goal to salvage a draw or win, although they couldn’t manage it on that occasion.
On that afternoon against Forest, the Reds never mounted any real surge after Callum Hudson-Odoi’s sucker punch with just under 20 mintes remaining, with that goal enough to secure victory for Nuno Espirito Santo’s team.
The ideal scenario is obviously that we don’t need to be reliant on late salvage acts at Anfield such as the dramatic 4-3 win over Fulham last season when we were training in the final few minutes, instead getting the job done with time to spare so that the stadium isn’t on tenterhooks.
Liverpool have made a recent habit of doing just enough to come away victorious, having been pushed all the way by both Wolves and Crystal Palace, although the Reds showed the perfect response to giving up a sloppy goal at Molineux.
The time will almost inevitably come that we’re in need of something special in the final quarter-hour at home to turn dropped points into victory. If we can do that today, it’d lay down a marker of intent in the Premier League title race and respond in kind to Manchester City’s ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ antics earlier this afternoon.