Home Fans chant that Arne Slot should be sacked tomorrow after Brentford defeat

It isn't just the clocks going back this weekend. For Liverpool, this was another massive step in the wrong direction.

And the Brentford supporters simply couldn’t help themselves after Igor Thiago stroked home from the spot to land what is already likely to be a decisive blow to any aspirations the Reds had of retaining the championship claimed just six months previous.

“You’re getting sacked in the morning!” came the chant from the home fans aimed at Arne Slot after his Reds team slumped to a fourth successive Premier League defeat just days after the confidence boost of a Champions League romp at Eintracht Frankfurt.

Of course, having guided Liverpool to their record-equalling 20th title last season, the Dutchman has far too much credit in the bank for the axe even to be considered by the Anfield hierarchy.

But there’s no doubt Slot now faces the greatest examination of a Reds reign that is now very much being judged against both the achievements of last term and the subsequent near-£450million squad overhaul in the summer.

If the scoreline was eventually as narrow as the recent defeats at Crystal Palace, Chelsea and at home to Manchester United, this was easily the most demoralising reverse of the season against a Brentford team who read the now much-thumbed playbook of how to beat Liverpool and executed it to perfection.

Mind you, they were aided by the visitors being their own worst enemy, the Reds once again conceding early, coughing up easy chances and then not showing much inclination to make the most of those that fell their way until it was far too late.

If Slot could rightly take credit for his selection gamble in midweek, here he got too many of his calls wrong with his starting line-up, substitutions and in-game changes. Whatever the Liverpool boss chose, it simply didn’t work.

He may, though, have expected a bit more from some of his senior players and perhaps a touch more fortune, which favoured Brentford in the award of the ultimately decisive penalty.

The last time the Reds lost four Premier League games in a row, it was when defending champions during the 2020/21 coronavirus campaign.

They ended up scraping Champions League qualification on the final day that season. If this poor run isn’t addressed soon, even a top-four slot would appear something of a tall order