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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Tom Blow

Trent Alexander-Arnold's Liverpool confession should set alarm bells ringing for Reds

Trent Alexander-Arnold has admitted "something's not going right" at Liverpool - and few people will disagree with that.

The Reds are enduring a tricky season, winning just four of their first 12 Premier League games to sit ninth in the table.

Jurgen Klopp's side find themselves 15 points behind leaders Arsenal, 13 adrift of Manchester City in second and eight behind Newcastle in fourth. Their most recent result was a shock 1-0 home defeat to Leeds on Saturday night.

Liverpool were billed as Premier League title challengers in pre-season but are now in danger of not even making the top four. That would've been unthinkable six months ago, as they tried to become the first English club in history to complete the "Quadruple".

Klopp's side won the FA Cup and EFL Cup - and they reached the Champions League final. They also finished just a point behind City in the Premier League title race after winning a whopping 28 games. So, are Liverpool still the same side?

"I'd say we all believe in ourselves, we believe in the way we play, we believe in the squad and what we can achieve," Alexander-Arnold told the club's website. "But I think when you do get setbacks, it can potentially make you second-guess yourself and question things. Clearly as a team something's not going right, it's not going as well as we want it to go.

"That's something for everyone to think about, that's something for everyone to address and make sure we put it right, especially next week against Spurs, top-four rivals. We kind of need to go there and get some points if we've got any chance of reaching our aims and aspirations for the season."

Trent Alexander-Arnold is worried about Liverpool's poor start to the season (Getty Images)

Where do you think Liverpool's season has gone wrong? Let us know in the comments below!

Where has this relentless Liverpool team gone off the tracks? Many critics point to Sadio Mane's departure as the reason for their decline. The forward was a key member of Klopp's squad, helping them win the Premier League title, Champions League, FA Cup, EFL Cup, Club World Cup and European Super Cup - not to mention his 120 goals.

Mane finished second in this year's Ballon d'Or vote and it's always hard to replace a player of that calibre. Yet his move to Bayern Munich was the only seismic summer exit. The likes of Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Alisson and Thiago Alcantara are all still there.

Liverpool still have one of the best squads in the Premier League, and they should have more than just four wins to their name. Perhaps their mistake in the summer was failing to bring in the right type of players to fit Klopp's footballing philosophy.

Liverpool conceded a last-minute winner against Leeds on Saturday night (AFP via Getty Images)

Darwin Nunez is a handful - scoring six goals since his £85million summer move from Benfica - but raw. He's not a like-for-like replacement for Mane and it could take a long time for Klopp to mould him into a player who can fill the void left by his predecessor.

Central midfield is also a problem. Liverpool needed to bolster that department due to the injury records of Thiago, Jordan Henderson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita. Yet the only player they could bring in was another injury-stricken star in Arthur Melo.

Klopp has been over reliant on Harvey Elliott in the middle of the park. The 19-year-old has certainly not let his manager down, but he's already played 18 games this season - which is a lot for a teenager who suffered a horrific leg injury last term.

Recruitment is always the most important aspect of creating a successful team - not philosophy - and Liverpool got it wrong in the summer. Klopp must find a solution to that before the chequebook can be opened again, which is not usually in the January.

That solution is a tactical switch, somehow finding a way to get the best out of Nunez AND Salah - as well as taking the pressure off his weary midfield. Klopp has already promised we'll see a "different Liverpool" after the World Cup ends in December.

The tournament may actually come to Liverpool's rescue. They've only got two more Premier League games to play before the season is put on ice. If they can get two decent results and Klopp can get his house in order, Liverpool's season may just be salvaged.

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