Rio Ferdinand thinks he knows what Liverpool’s ‘key’ issue is right now

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Liverpool have been in a poor run of form over the last 10 days or so.

The Reds have lost three games in a row for the first time since the 2022-23 season despite their £450million summer spending.

Most fans expected the Anfield outfit to walk all over the league, but, in reality, that’s been far from the case.

Of course, there have been times when it’s felt like the Reds were going to easily top the league, but a lot of their early wins against teams such as Newcastle were down to pure luck.

The international break is now upon us, which means there won’t be any domestic football for a week or so, and while most would usually be annoyed by this, some Liverpool fans are actually pleased that it’s come when it has.

And now, Rio Ferdinand has weighed in with his thoughts on why Liverpool have turned so poor in such a short space of time.

Rio Ferdinand believes Liverpool have no balance among their starting XI

There was always going to be a transition period for Liverpool this season.

However, after winning their five opening Premier League games, most thought that the Reds had managed to skip right past this and get to business straight away.

In the end, that isn’t how things have panned out with Ferdinand, while speaking on the Rio Presents Podcast, sharing his thoughts on exactly why things haven’t gone to plan for Arne Slot this season.

“I think balance in their team is the issue. That’s the key thing of finding the right balance,” he said.

“They’ve gone from having three midfielders, Szoboszlai, Gravenberch, and Mac Allister are all good grafters, all get around the pitch, all can cover for other people and make big sacrifices in their own game for other players.

“In their team, especially in wide areas at times. Whereas, like you say, with Wirtz coming in now, he ain’t scoring, he ain’t really assisting, he’s not really impacting the games, he’s working his nuts off, but he ain’t having the impact that they probably anticipated.

“And like you said, with all the attacking players on the show, they’re starting to get picked out.”

Liverpool need to figure out what their best starting XI is soon

At the moment, it’s clear that Slot doesn’t know what his best starting XI is.

The Dutchman has been chopping and changing players across the board, with Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate the only ones to have kept their place in the team.

And, even though he’s chosen to keep those two in his starting XI, it’s clear that the Reds need Konate to perform much better than he has this season.

However, due to injuries to players such as Giovanni Leoni, Slot’s hand is more or less forced into starting the Frenchman.

Others, such as Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, also need to prove that they should be Liverpool’s first choice, because, at the moment, it really doesn’t feel that way.

At the moment, it’s anyone’s guess what version of Liverpool fans will get upon their return from the international break, but if they don’t improve from their last week of performances, some serious questions will have to be answered.