Paul Merson labels Liverpool 'boring' as Arne Slot faces inevitable comparison

New Liverpool head coach Arne Slot was always going to face comparisons with his predecessor , Jurgen Klopp , and Paul Merson was among those to inevitably point to the contrast between them following the Reds' defeat to Nottingham Forest.

Liverpool never got going against the Midlands outfit with Mohamed Salah and Dominik Szoboszlai among those who performed poorly. With Harvey Elliott injured and Curtis Jones only just back from a muscle issue, Slot's options to change the game were limited and his second-half substitutions didn't end up paying off.

"I thought Liverpool were a bit boring," Merson said on Sky Sports News. "I thought it was slow. When you watch Klopp’s team play, they break and it’s 100 miles an hour, they break so quickly."

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At the end of last season, though, when Klopp was still in charge, Liverpool also had some poor performances, even at Anfield. Crystal Palace won 1-0 there in April , for instance, while Atalanta came to Merseyside and won 3-0 in the Europa League.

While Liverpool losing to Nottingham Forest was a surprise and the extremely low level of performance is not something that Slot will hope is repeated, his style has proven to get results in three other matches. The task now will be to bounce back and ensure this was a one-off, even if Merson is unconvinced.

"They just seemed to go through the phases," he continued. "It isn’t quick enough. And unless they quicken this up, I don’t see it. I don’t see them challenging, I don’t. They have got to move it quickly. Teams in this Premier League , they get back so quickly."

Liverpool.com says: It clearly wasn't a good showing from Liverpool but you can't judge Slot and the way he plays after four games. Even if you did, the Reds have won three of them without conceding a goal.