Arne Slot talks needed as post-match scenes hint at cruel new Liverpool injury blow

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The Paul Gorst verdict from Stamford Bridge as Liverpool, for the second week running, lose 2-1 late on away in the Premier League after Estevao scores Chelsea's winnerPaul Gorst is the Liverpool ECHO's Liverpool FC correspondent and brings readers the inside track on all matters Anfield day in, day out. Whatever Arne Slot's feeling on that particular debate, he will now have two weeks to stew on it as his side lost their third successive game to bring the curtain down on the week from hell for the Reds boss.Having become masters of late-goal drama in the early weeks of the campaign, the champions have been administered copious amounts of their own medicine in the last two league games as they once more conceded in stoppage-time to lose 2-1.This time it was Chelsea substitute Estevao picking up where Eddie Nketiah left off at Crystal Palace last week, sliding in in the 95th minute to secure a huge victory for Enzo Maresca, whose riotous celebrations saw him pick up the most joyous yellow card of his career to be sent off by referee Anthony Taylor.It will have mattered little to him as Chelsea Dagger echoed around Stamford Bridge and Slot must now face up to some massive questions during this break.Namely, how does he inject some fluency into his team on the other side of the international fixtures?

There was little the Georgia international could do about it and as Alisson Becker recovers from his now annual muscle injury, Mamardashvili will get the time to build his relationship with his back four.In many ways, though, that is the issue at Liverpool at the moment. Too many players are still trying to work out the patterns and the movements of each other.As this team continues to emerge from a big-spending summer, the burgeoning partnerships all over the pitch are still in their infancy and the Reds, having spent so much money in the window, don't have the luxury of time nor the leeway to label themselves as a team in transition.Alexander Isak and Mohamed Salah will take time to strike up their own understanding but the pair did combine late in the first half when a sumptuous outside-of-the-foot cross from the Egyptian was nodded over by the £125m striker, who, with more minutes under his belt, might have threatened Robert Sanchez more.Milos Kerkez and Cody Gakpo on the left side are also still adjusting to each other's game undoubtedly.

Neither have started the season off in the sort of form they showed last time out and 21-year-old Kerkez is still getting to grips with the demands at a club the size of Liverpool.Slot went back to basics by naming Florian Wirtz on the bench and selected the tried-and-trusted midfield of Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch but none were able to stamp their authority and class on proceedings in the first half.Wirtz was introduced at half time for Conor Bradley, who was on a booking, and Szoboszlai shifted to right-back once more.The Reds were improved after the break and full credit to Slot, whose substitutions of Wirtz, Curtis Jones and Andy Robertson injected more urgency into proceedings.Wirtz should have had an assist for a gorgeous turn with virtually his first touch but an out-of-sorts Salah fluffed his line and the £116m man was unable to create anything resembling a good chance after that. Kerkez is a hugely talented young player but the experienced Scot showcased his enduring value and it shouldn't be discarded so easily.The sight of left-back limping off in the heat of the post-match celebrations was cruel and a nervous wait now ensues to see how bad that issue is.Liverpool's equaliser came when Gakpo, otherwise on the periphery, pounced from Isak's touch inside the area, but it was not the catalyst for the visitors to lay siege to Sanchez's goal.