Arne Slot theory is fanciful - Liverpool already have the blueprint for season-defining week

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Liverpool Echo IconSportFootballLiverpool FCThe final word on Liverpool's 3-0 loss to Crystal Palace as Arne Slot looks ahead to something of a season-defining week against Aston Villa, Real Madrid and Manchester CityAfter four successive Premier League defeats, the idea that passage to the fifth round of the Carabao Cup will have given Arne Slot extra margin for error on Saturday night against Aston Villa is fanciful.The Liverpool boss is firmly in the grip of his worst sequence since he pitched up on Merseyside in the summer of 2024 and the questions and the critiques are piling up by the game right now.The injury list is growing, with Slot potentially without Curtis Jones, Alexander Isak and Ryan Gravenberch for the game against Unai Emery's men, while the fixture will also come too soon for Alisson Becker and Jeremie Frimpong, who are both recovering from hamstring issues.READ MORE: Oliver Glasner hits back at Liverpool claim after Crystal Palace win - 'It is disrespectful'The big-money buys of the summer in £125m Isak and £116m Florian Wirtz are yet to light the blue touch paper on their Anfield careers and only Hugo Ekitike, a £79m addition from Eintracht Frankfurt, has hit the ground running during a huge turnover of the playing staff in the summer months.Slot is having trouble keeping clean sheets, his full-backs are struggling and Mohamed Salah has looked a shadow of the player whose performances saw him finish as high as fourth in the recent Ballon d'Or rankings.Slot and his staff are also having to adapt to opponents going more direct against their team than ever before. It's a blueprint that has underpinned much of the success teams have had against them of late, particularly Manchester United and Brentford.

Saturday's clash with Villa was already being viewed as a must-win, particularly given they might find themselves 10 points behind league leaders Arsenal by the time the 8pm kick-off gets underway.Both the similarities and the contrast to the last time Villa pitched up at Anfield are striking. It was November last year when the Villans arrived on Merseyside for an 8pm kick-off on a Saturday.A 2-0 win for the future champions, secured through goals from Darwin Nunez and Salah, took the leaders five clear of Manchester City, whose defeat at Brighton just an hour or so earlier helped create the sort of febrile Anfield din for which the place is renowned for.The 8pm kick-off this weekend allows match-goers a similar opportunity to find their singing voices in the local watering holes around Anfield before kick-off and Slot will no doubt implore the same level of atmosphere on the terraces this weekend.This time, however, Liverpool will likely need it just to keep them hanging precariously on the coattails of Mikel Arteta's Arsenal ahead of a huge week that sees them entertain Real Madrid before a trip to Manchester City.It's roughly the same fixture list that Liverpool navigated this time last year, when they saw off Villa and swatted aisde City while finally gaining a measure of revenge against Real, who have beaten them in two relatively recent Champions League finals.Back then, many were anointing Slot's team as Europe's finest and while similar results this time out won't see them regain those platitudes, a major week or so has the potential to sweep up the current mess.If the Carabao Cup is the collateral damage for that, then it will have been worth it for Slot.

It's as close to a season-defining week as it's perhaps possible to get in November and now his team has to deliver.Paul GorstPaul Gorst is the Liverpool ECHO's Liverpool FC correspondent and brings readers the inside track on all matters Anfield day in, day out. A journalist with over a decade's worth of experience, he has worked at the ECHO since 2016.