Wayne Rooney says Liverpool have a ‘clear problem’ after they suffered a third successive defeat to Chelsea to slip behind new Premier League leaders Arsenal.
Arne Slot’s side won their first seven games of the season to emerge as the favourites to retain the Premier League trophy.
Liverpool’s productive start to the campaign came after a staggering transfer window in which the Reds spent over £400m on new signings.
The Anfield club broke their own transfer record twice, spending more than £100m on both Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak.
Liverpool endured a miserable week before the international break, losing to Crystal Palace and Chelsea in the Premier League and Galatasaray in their second Champions League game.
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Cody Gakpo appeared to have earned Liverpool a point following Moises Caicedo’s superb opener at Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening before Estevao Willian’s injury-time winner left the visitors stunned.
Rooney says Liverpool struggled in the full-back areas against Chelsea and believes the Blues ‘exploited’ Conor Bradley, who was subbed off at half-time after being booked in the first half.
‘It’s a clear problem Liverpool have got in the right back area,’ Rooney said on BBC’s Match of the Day. ‘Conor Bradley has come off twice at half-time in the last two league games.
‘They’ve tried Dominik Szoboszlai but it hasn’t really worked for him. Jeremie Frimpong was on the bench today but didn’t get on so they’ve tried three right-backs in seven league games.
‘Chelsea have seen that and exploited it. The Liverpool back-four were all over the place at times, there were warning signs early on.
‘Bradley got a yellow card and I’m sure that was a big factor in him getting subbed off at half-time. It was a big problem for Liverpool today as it has been all season.’
Successive league defeats has seen Liverpool slip to second in the Premier League, one point behind new leaders Arsenal.
Reacting to his side’s latest setback, Slot said: ‘If you play at Stamford Bridge and create as many chances as we did today that is something positive we take.
‘We conceded two goals in both games [against Palace last week and Chelsea today], the only chance they had in the first half – maybe you should compliment them – unfortunately we couldn’t score.
‘After we scored 1-1 it went our way and I think I was waiting for us to score the second. Decision making could’ve been better, last 10-15 minutes was end-to-end.
‘It’s fine margins like it’s been for as long as I’ve been here. Last week, same as this week two difficult away games, the fine margins haven’t been in our favour.
‘In both games we’ve created more chances than the team we have faced – Palace and Chelsea – but the truth is that we have only scored once in both games and our opponent has scored twice.’
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