Former star admits Liverpool’s lack of identity is worrying

Those words cut to the heart of Liverpool’s current problem. This is a side that can have the ball, can build in neat passages, and can still look alarmingly vulnerable whenever possession is lost.

Counterattacks Expose Slot’s Liverpool

United’s early lead at Old Trafford was not an isolated failure. Liverpool were 2-0 down inside 15 minutes, then spent the rest of the contest chasing a match they had helped tilt away from themselves.

Roy Keane called the first half display like “a bad five-a-side team”, a line delivered with typical force, but one that carried uncomfortable truth. Liverpool looked disconnected, stretched, and too easy to play through.

Alexis Mac Allister’s loose pass before Benjamin Sesko’s controversial goal will attract individual scrutiny, yet the wider issue sits with the system. When one error becomes a runway for an opponent, the problem is rarely only the player. It is the structure around him.

Champions League Target Still Matters

Sturridge did offer a note of patience, saying: “They can get Champions League football, regroup, decide on the framework, decide on the players who are with you. You’ve got to give the man a chance to implement the philosophy.”

That is the challenge now for Slot. Liverpool can still secure Champions League qualification, and that may give the Dutchman the platform to reset in the summer. Yet supporters will want more than recruitment talk and promises of improvement.

They will want clarity. They will want Liverpool to press with purpose, attack with rhythm, and defend transitions with intelligence. Above all, they will want a team that looks like it believes in the football it is being asked to play.

For now, Sturridge has voiced what many fans are already asking. Two seasons in, Slot’s Liverpool should feel more defined than this.