Insider BAFFLED by Arne Slot's treatment of one Liverpool player | OneFootball

There are many talking points following Liverpool’s loss to Chelsea on Saturday - their third defeat in a row.

Following a promising start to the season for the 2024/25 Premier League champions, things have taken a turn in recent fixtures.

The loss to Chelsea followed games against Crystal Palace in the top flight as well as Galatasaray in the Champions League.

With the Reds back in action on October 19, Arne Slot must spend the international window reflecting on what could go better when his squad returns in full.

Salah's form deserts him

There is no question that certain elements of the team are malfunctioning right now.

LFC x adidas

Shop the home range today!

LFC x adidas

Shop the goalkeeper range today

LFC x adidas Third Kit

Shop the third kit range today!

From a dropoff in the full-back areas to a lack of rhythm in midfield, the Anfield club simply aren’t themselves right now. And in attack perhaps the most glaring issue is the form of Mohamed Salah.

The Egyptian King, 33, has scored three goals and made three assists already this season - by no means awful - but his overall contributions are diminishing.

Salah is missing chances he would be expected to score and is providing very little assistance to his right-back when the opposition are on the ball.

Chiesa again left on the bench

Despite his output, Salah got another 90 minutes on Saturday when Liverpool were crying out for other solutions. While attackers like Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike were introduced, Federico Chiesa was again left sitting on the bench.

For a winger with a couple of goals under his belt this season, it was a surprising decision to leave him out for the entire game. And it’s a point picked up on by Liverpool insider James Pearce in a recent Athletic report.

© IMAGO - Federico Chiesa Liverpool

James Pearce baffled by Chiesa omission

“It was baffling that Federico Chiesa wasn’t introduced — he’s one of the few attacking players actually playing with belief,” he wrote.

The 27-year-old suffered a poor season last term on a personal level - often going long stretches without an appearance and featuring only intermittently in Slot’s first team.

He got back on track over summer with a decent preseason - elbowing his way back into contention. Having scored against Bournemouth on matchday one, it was maybe expected that Chiesa would kick on and have a bigger role.

But instead he was initially left out of the Champions League squad for the league phase - only being drafted in when Giovanni Leoni was injured.

There are plenty of questions for Slot to answer during the break in games - and how best to utilise Chiesa could be one such issue to pore over.