Alan Shearer thinks two Liverpool players look ‘completely different’ now

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Liverpool’s decline in the 2025/26 season is unlike anything most fans have witnessed in their lifetime.

The Reds have lost nine of their last 12 matches across all competitions, and several players aren’t stepping up under Arne Slot.

Virgil van Dijk made a big mistake as Liverpool shipped four goals at Anfield earlier this week.

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Jamie Carragher has issued a concerning Ibrahima Konate verdict after the PSV defeat.

Now, Alan Shearer has shared his view on the Liverpool defensive duo, and it’s not great.

Alan Shearer makes worrying Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate claim

Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast in the build-up to the weekend’s Premier League action, Shearer explained the decline of both Van Dijk and Konate.

He said: “I mean, you look at Konate and Van Dijk, it’s like, I’m looking at two completely different players to what we saw last season. I mean, Konate is massively struggling, as is Van Dijk. He looks a yard at least short.

“I mean, I don’t know what he was doing for the penalty with the handball [vs PSV]. It was obviously a penalty. And I’ve also said, didn’t I, it’s not as if it’s one position where there’s a problem.

“I mean, there’s a problem all over the park, which is why it’s going to be so difficult to fix that.”

While it’s become clear that Van Dijk and Konate are no longer at their best, there isn’t an awful lot that can be done right now.

The Reds are short of centre-back options, and Joe Gomez, despite being included in multiple matchday squads recently, isn’t fully fit.

When Joe Gomez could replace Ibrahima Konate

Slot gave a Gomez update in his pre-West Ham press conference on Thursday.

He was asked when the centre-back could finally play some meaningful minutes and suggested it may be soon.

The Dutchman said: “He’s close. He could have been involved yesterday as well in terms of minutes. But when we are 2-1 or 3-1 down, I tend to make offensive substitutions.

“And for him to start a game is also definitely a possibility. But [Ibrahima] Konate didn’t train two days before the game, he was a bit of a [risk] two days before. Then if you don’t have that many defenders to start with, two players that might not be able to play the whole 90, that’s kind of a risk as well.

“I decided to keep him there for if Ibou was injured and not to have to make two substitutions, because then we probably would have ended up with one or two defenders.”

Gomez has never really been one of Liverpool’s top centre-backs, but with 20 goals shipped in the Premier League already this season, something needs to change.