Carragher: It's good for football that money has not fixed all of LIV's problems

Game never better than when managers are challenged to find tactical solutions rather than big spending delivering shortcut to success

In the midst of unprecedented success, Bob Paisley had a clever way of responding to any Liverpool hiccups.

“Aye, there we are with all our problems at the top of the league.”

Arne Slot might steal Paisley’s line when he reflects on Liverpool’s last two games, the setbacks against Crystal Palace and Galatasaray ending a sequence of perfect results while raising questions about the balance of his line-up and form and quality of some of his recent signings.

As a top manager, he will be shrewd enough to recognise that the flaws exposed in those matches were neither new, nor surprising. Given how Liverpool have been playing since the start of this season, it was only a matter of time before they were punished.

What fascinates me from here is how he is going to fix it, because there is no doubt something has to change or Arsenal will be rubbing their hands.

Surprising as it might sound from an ex-player who always wants Liverpool to win, it is good and healthy for the Premier League that Slot heads to Chelsea this weekend with several problems to solve.

Part of me is worried by how Liverpool have played so far. Another part of me is excited and reassured.

It is exciting because I am looking forward to seeing how Slot goes about making the necessary adjustments and improvements.

It is reassuring because creating and maintaining a winning team has to require much more than signing huge cheques, otherwise the chasing pack might as well give up. You need to build connections, and dedicate hours on the training pitch to ensure everyone knows what is demanded with and without the ball so the balance is right.

Liverpool spent nearly £450m on new players over the summer, regardless of how much they recouped via sales. For the greater good of English football, it would have been disheartening had that level of investment led to instant brilliance.

Just like Chelsea have discovered after spending £1.5bn over the past three years, there should be no shortcuts to success.

As a fan, you always want to see your own side beating the opposition, improving season after season and competing for the biggest stars on the market. As a lover of the game, football is never better than when those at the very top are challenged to find the tactical solutions to get more from high-class players.

That is how I felt when seeing Manchester City struggle under Pep Guardiola a year ago, wondering how he would go about dealing with the kind of issues “mortal” coaches confront every week such as injuries, loss of form and creating an environment where new recruits can acclimatise.

Now Slot has to remodel his starting XI with seven new first-team players, of which only Hugo Ekitike has hit the ground running.

It is not supposed to be easy.

What makes the greatest coaches and players so great is their ability to make it seem like it is.

Guardiola did so when City won four league titles in a row. Slot managed to make it appear so in his debut season.

Some comments I made earlier this week were misrepresented. What Slot did in taking over from a legend in Jürgen Klopp and winning the Premier League at his first attempt was one of the toughest assignments imaginable. What was so impressive was the manner in which he made it look effortless.

Every big decision he made worked, whether it was opting not to pressure his board to change the squad he inherited, or tweaking the positions of Ryan Gravenberch and Luis Díaz.

Liverpool became a more controlled team under Slot. Matches were less frantic, and although the team lacked a little of the thrill-a-minute attacking style of the Klopp era, they were so defensively sound that there were many games in which Alisson and Caoimhin Kelleher were unemployed.

For all that success, Slot was not entirely happy with everything he saw, even when Liverpool were better than the rest.

“To romanticise last season as much as we do is incorrect,” he said last month.

“Last season was, every single time, a struggle. Most wins were only by one goal and we had to fight really hard for it.”

There is an irony, therefore, that in trying to create a more offensive side which wins games easier, Liverpool currently have a team which is finding it harder to win, with six of their seven victories in all competitions requiring late goals.

From the opening-night win against Bournemouth, Liverpool have resembled the Klopp side between 2015-18, when it felt like you were watching a game of basketball more than football.

Liverpool’s biggest problem right now is not their back four, although Ibrahima Konaté’s inconsistency is well-documented and the preferred full-backs Milos Kerkez and Conor Bradley are inexperienced. Bradley still looks like an academy graduate trying to cope with the demands of playing senior football three times a week.

Upfield, the introduction of Florian Wirtz into the three-man midfield which was so effective at pinning opponents into their own half last season has fundamentally changed how Liverpool play. Dominik Szoboszlai was questioned for not offering enough as an attacking force in his advanced midfield position last season. I mentioned it and so did Slot.

But the importance of his work off the ball, nullifying the opportunities for opponents to build attacks and helping Mohamed Salah out when tracking back defensively on the right, is perhaps appreciated even more now than it was 12 months ago.

It sounds odd to say it, but Wirtz was signed to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold – a No 10 to provide the passing range and creativity of a unique full-back.

He is yet to add what Liverpool are missing without Alexander-Arnold, while at the same time the team has lost the intensity which made them so difficult to play against.

It means Slot has a dilemma as he tries to defend the title going through a transitional phase that might take longer than many thought.

He must decide whether to regroup and temporarily revert to the strategy of last season, accommodating Wirtz in a different role or leaving him out entirely until he is up to speed with English football.

Or he might persist with his vision believing more short-term pain might be necessary until it clicks. The latter would be dangerous because even with all the credit in the bank from his title win, there is immense pressure to keep winning, especially when you have spent a combined £230m on two players who are supposed to be ready-made to take a championship-winning side to the next level.

Slot excelled by moulding Klopp’s signings into a better team. Now he has to repeat the trick with his own recruits.