Dejan Lovren admitted he is unsure whether Liverpool’s poor start to the season is a temporary dip or a more long-term drop off in quality.
The Reds have endured a lacklustre start to the new campaign, with just two wins in six games leaving them nine points behind Arsenal at the top and eight behind Manchester City and Tottenham. Domestic troubles filtered into the opening week of the Champions League in which Jurgen Klopp’s side were humbled by a 4-1 defeat in Napoli - a performance the Liverpool boss described as the worst in his tenure.
Multiple factors have contributed to a month far below the standards they have set since Klopp’s arrival in 2015, not least an ever-growing list of key injuries, the need for new signings to adapt and the theory that players are still reeling from last season’s mammoth 63-game season. Whatever the reason, however, former Reds defender Lovren - who is in regular contact with Mohamed Salah - admitted he is unsure as to how long it will take to bounce back.
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“I talk to Salah at least once a month,” Lovren told Sportske when asked if he was in touch with anyone at his old club. “We will see how the story with Liverpool will unfold, whether they are just in a bad period or if the story will go down. They have to go back to the Liverpool they used to be.
“The Premiership is a very tough league. Some new players came to Liverpool, they need to adapt.”
Marquee summer signing Darwin Nunez had had a mixed start to life on Merseyside, scoring in the Community Shield and his Premier League debut before getting sent off for headbutting Crystal Palace defender Joachim Andersen. Klopp’s midfield reinforcement, Arthur Melo - a deadline-day loan signing from Juventus - is yet to hit match fitness and played 60 minutes for the under-21s in the EFL Trophy defeat to Rochdale in midweek.
The Reds return to Premier League action next weekend, after almost a month without league football, when they host Brighton next Saturday.
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