Liverpool are not dealing well with “becoming the hunted” after winning the Premier League title last season, according to Manchester United legend Dwight Yorke.
The Reds lost their fourth game in a row on Sunday when Man Utd beat them 2-1 at Anfield with Arne Slot’s side now four points off Premier League leaders Arsenal.
Liverpool managed to blow a five-point lead at the top of the table before the international break and now Arsenal are pulling away from them at the summit.
Defending Premier League champions Liverpool lost to Crystal Palace, Galatasaray and Chelsea before the international break and Yorke thinks their latest loss to Man Utd is down to the “high expectation” on them after last season’s success.
On Liverpool, Yorke exclusively told Football365 on behalf of Escapist Magazine: “It’s hard to read too much into it, I think. You didn’t see Liverpool losing three in a row — it’s now four in a row. That’s just unheard of. I think that that was a difficult one for them, and it shows you know you’re beatable in this league, and if you’re not careful, you know the confidence drops, no matter how good of a team you are if you continue to lose.
“People are just not performing at the level, because when you come in and you become champions, there’s a high expectation of the level. You can’t go through the motions. And I’m not saying that they do, but give the teams around them credit. They’re running them.
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“They’re really playing with their heart. And if you’re not rolling your sleeves up, you become the hunted, and teams are hunting you. You have to make sure that you hold them off. I don’t think Liverpool is doing that, although they won some games earlier on in the season in the dying minute and they showed resilience, which is great, and you think from there they would build.
“But what they’re seeing is a vulnerability within the team. And it will be interesting to see how they react now that they’ve gone four games in a row. You’ve really got to call on the experience of your big-name players to really then perform. But it certainly gives everybody hope, everybody their chance in the league.
“Because, as you said, we all thought that Liverpool, with the signings that they have made, that they’re going to run away, and certainly the start that they got off to, they now fall back into. And I think that gives the whole thing a new dimension. And everybody hopes that they can go and win it and feel like they have been showing in recent games.”
Mohamed Salah has only scored twice in the Premier League this season, on the Liverpool forward’s poor displays, Yorke added: “I think there’s a combination there. I don’t think there’s one single factor: lacking in confidence for someone who’s been at the top of the game, and the best player in the league for a number of years just shows consistency. How hard is that to maintain?
“Expectation is huge. And once you drop your level, then people are going to start factoring in your age, you’re not playing as well, and they look for excuses when that is the same person that has been consistent for the last six years, and so unfortunately, once results go against you, then people are going to start.
“It’s hard for me to sit here and criticise someone like Salah. Records, what he’s done for the game, and as a fellow attacker myself, I’ve got nothing but admiration. And I think that’s just down to, one, the team is not playing as well as they were, and two, that when that is happening, you’re going to get a drop off in confidence and he shows that he’s human, like all of us, that no matter how good you are, he’s just not firing on all cylinders like he was before.”
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