Liverpool star just wasted a huge ‘opportunity’ under Arne Slot, says Gary Neville

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Much to Arne Slot’s frustration, Liverpool will have to wait until after the international break to rectify a disastrous week.

Since Arne Slot’s appointment, Liverpool have set incredibly high standards, explaining why they won the Premier League during the Dutchman’s first season.

However, Liverpool haven’t quite been as robust this term, and despite their early season results, cracks were beginning to show.

Unfortunately for Slot, those fragilities have now been exposed during a run of three defeats in all competitions.

And after losing 2-1 to Chelsea late on, Liverpool will have to wait until October 19 before they can begin to put things right against Manchester United.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	ArsenalArsenal	7	5	1	1	14	3	11	16
2	LiverpoolLiverpool	7	5	0	2	13	9	4	15
3	TottenhamTottenham	7	4	2	1	13	5	8	14
4	BournemouthBournemouth	7	4	2	1	11	8	3	14
5	Crystal PalaceCrystal Palace	6	3	3	0	8	3	5	12

Gary Neville says Conor Bradley failed to take his chance in Chelsea defeat

That being said, several Liverpool players have been below-par over the past few weeks.

But on his podcast, Gary Neville specifically spoke about Conor Bradley’s failure to take his opportunity to become Liverpool’s starting right-back.

Jeremie Frimpong is yet to prove that he has the defensive credentials to play week in, week out for Liverpool at right-back, and Bradley hasn’t convinced either.

Bradley has been criticised already this season, and despite also praising the young full-back’s ability, Neville lamented another missed chance.

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Neville said: “Conor Bradley is a player that I think has got real talent and potential, but he didn’t handle Garnacho well in that first half. 

“Garnacho, I thought, got the better of him, not in doing anything amazing, but I just thought he had him.

“I just thought he had him, and you can see when someone is just shading a game. Garnacho was winning on points, if you like, and obviously gets booked.

“He has another little nibble at him just before half time, and then you’re in a situation whereby he sat watching the second half in the dressing room and on the bench.

“And you are down in the dumps when that happens, because this is Conor Bradley’s big day today.

“So he’s missed an opportunity. When you get an opportunity in life, you’ve got to take it. And this was a big opportunity for him.”

Ibrahima Konate is making life harder for Arne Slot

Moving from Alexander-Arnold to either Bradley or Frimpong was always going to be a transition for Liverpool – all three are very different players.

But it hasn’t helped Slot that Ibrahima Konate has endured such a difficult season thus far on the right side of Liverpool’s centre-back duo.

Frimpong is a very attacking full-back and owing to Konate’s poor form, perhaps Slot has decided that it’s not the right time to start the Dutchman regularly.

When Frimpong is marauding forward, Slot also needs to rely on his back four to become a back three, but even dispelling Konate’s struggles, that doesn’t particularly suit Milos Kerkez on the other flank either.

Just like Frimpong, Kerkez wants to bomb forward and join the attack, both are full-backs who thrive in the final third.

But the balance simply isn’t working for Slot right now, and perhaps it’s now obvious why Liverpool were interested in Jorrel Hato this summer, who actually signed for Chelsea.

With Hato at left-back, Liverpool would have been able to let Frimpong advance all he wanted on the right.

But as things stand, Liverpool have a problem at the back, and they might not have the right personnel to rectify it.