Ranking six Liverpool scapegoats on blame for mini-crisis as Florian Wirtz above Mohamed Salah

Rational thinking tends to go out of the window when there is a crisis/mini-crisis at a football club. Instead of spreading the blame across several departments, fingers are pointed at an individual (or individuals).

This is currently the case at Liverpool, with six leading scapegoats supposedly to blame for their run of three straight losses before the international break.

But how at fault are they really for Liverpool’s recent woes? We have ranked the struggling sextet from least to most to blame for their ongoing mini-crisis under Arne Slot…

6) Alexis Mac Allister

It made for a sorry watch as Mac Allister chased shadows for 86 minutes against Chelsea before finally being put out of his misery by Arne Slot, who acknowledged their lack of control in the match by bringing on Wataru Endo in a failed attempt to close it out.

Mac Allister’s performance against Chelsea was arguably his worst in a Liverpool shirt, though there aren’t a lot of poor outings to choose from because he’s been among the top midfielders in the Premier League following his move from Brighton.

The World Cup winner’s slump also comes with the caveat that he has recently returned from injury and is clearly not yet fully recovered. His issues have compounded Liverpool’s misery, but he has been eased back into the team by Slot and is yet to complete 90 minutes this season, so he’s certainly less at fault than others.

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5) Mohamed Salah

It has been a rollercoaster couple of years for Salah. Many feared his sub-par 2023/24 form (for his standards) would be the beginning of the end for the 33-year-old as an elite forward, but he silenced his critics by producing his best personal campaign to date to carry Liverpool to their 20th league title.

Salah was rightly rewarded with a new two-year contract amid unrelenting interest from the Saudi Pro League, but he is struggling to replicate the outrageous form he showed last season.

This is understandable, really, and contrary to the opinion of some, he has not been “terrible”. But there has been a stark drop-off, and it’s alarming how much he is on the periphery as the exit of Trent Alexander-Arnold appears to have hampered him the most.

Regardless, he has still contributed six goal involvements in his 10 appearances in all competitions and has produced the odd moment of magic, albeit not as regularly as last season. He’ll be one of Liverpool’s biggest beneficiaries once Slot finds the correct balance with his new-look side.

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4) Florian Wirtz

Wirtz has come under more scrutiny than any Liverpool player due to arriving with a former British record price tag of £116m.

Liverpool capturing Wirtz ahead of Bayern Munich, who grew increasingly bitter over the summer, and Manchester City was a huge statement of intent, and he possesses too much natural ability not to eventually come good at Anfield.

Wirtz needs to do more to acclimatise, but it’s easy to forget that he is only 22 and adapting to a new brand of football in a new league. Slot’s insistence on changing a functional midfield to usher him in has certainly impacted their performances in the short term, but his immense quality will bear fruit once connections are made in the coming weeks/months.

3) Jeremie Frimpong

Frimpong has had a really poor start at Liverpool and he’s arguably the worst of their marquee summer signings.

Liverpool’s decision to sign Frimpong to replace Alexander-Arnold looks more puzzling by the day as Slot clearly does not trust him to be strong enough defensively to cope at right-back, while he also struggled as cover for Salah on the wing against Galatasaray.

Frimpong has plenty of great attributes, but it’s currently hard to see the shoe fitting for him and Liverpool. Still, his lack of game time this season means he’s less to blame for the mini-crisis than a couple of others with more minutes.

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2) Milos Kerkez

Liverpool signing Kerkez as a long-term replacement for Andy Robertson, who was a weak link last season, felt like a no-brainer in the summer as he was already proven in the Premier League and was arguably the division’s best left-back in 2024/25.

But Kerkez has really found the step up from AFC Bournemouth to Liverpool tough as he’s already had to be taken out of the firing line a couple of times, with his rashness and lack of experience catching him out.

This means that Robertson will likely have to play much more this season than he would have imagined, with the overwhelming doubts at full-back a key contributor to Liverpool’s downturn.

1) Ibrahima Konate

Last season, Liverpool’s success was built on solid foundations as they had the second-best defence in the Premier League behind Arsenal, with their back five set in stone for most of the campaign as Konate and Virgil van Dijk had an impenetrable partnership.

The 2024/25 campaign was a breakout season for Konate after he’d previously been impacted by injuries, so it is really disappointing to see how far he’s fallen at the start of this campaign.

It now seems that Van Dijk was carrying Konate, who has become careless with his play in possession and when making defensive actions, as the uncertainty surrounding his future, like with Alexander-Arnold, impacts his performances.

The centre-back department was always going to be the weakness in this Liverpool side as soon as they missed out on Marc Guehi and their issues in this area have been made worse by Konate, who is largely to blame for them looking very fragile at the back and easy to play through.