Calm down Arsenal, Liverpool are not finished yet, but players need to take blame and it looks like Salah has been replaced by his brother

Liverpool are not out of the title race yet, according to club legend Graeme Souness.

However, the five-time league title winner admits the players must take the blame after a sixth defeat in seven Premier League matches.

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Last weekend’s 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest at Anfield leaves the Reds 11th in the table just over six months after clinching the title in April.

Arne Slot’s side now find themselves 11 points adrift of league leaders Arsenal, who are six points clear of their nearest challengers.

It comes despite Liverpool spending over £400million on new signings in the summer.

Meanwhile, several of their key players from last term have failed to reach the heights of Slot’s first campaign in charge.

Most notably amongst those are captain Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah, who Souness claims have ‘not turned up’ so far this term.

Despite that, the former Reds skipper has stopped short of ruling out a record-breaking 21st league title for his old club.

Why Liverpool can turn their season around

Souness won five of those during a six-year spell at Anfield, including a dramatic turnaround during the 1981/82 season.

On that occasion, Liverpool found themselves 12th in the table following a Boxing Day defeat to Manchester City.

However, after an intervention from Bob Paisley’s assistant manager Joe Fagan, the Reds recovered to win the title at the end of the campaign.

Recalling how Fagan inspired the players, Souness told White & Jordan: “When I played there, we lost to Man City on Boxing Day one year. We went to 12th in the league.

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“We must have been a good team because the season before we’d won the European Cup. So we go to 12th on Boxing Day, and I knew the staff were at their wits end.

“Now I worked with some of the best football people that have ever been, Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and Ronnie Moran.

“They were on to us in the build-up to this. We hadn’t been doing well, obviously, going 12th at Christmas time.

“Ultimately, I could take you to Melwood, to the very spot where Joe Fagan had stood us in a circle and said, ‘I give up on you now. Everything I know, every bit of information I could have given you, I’ve given you. So now, from this moment on, you’re on your own. I can’t help you anymore. We can’t help you anymore.’

“Suffice to say, we went on to win the league.”

Arsenal are not champions yet

Souness believes it is not yet impossible for Liverpool to pull off another title race comeback this season despite their current form and position in the league.

Arsenal’s victory over Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday extended their lead at the top of the table to six points.

The former Scotland midfielder admits he would not bet on the Reds to win the league but added ‘anything can happen’.

When asked by Martin Keown if they are out of the title race, he said: “You’ve been around the block several times, you know there’s madness in football. Anything can happen.

“If I was a betting man, which I’m not, I wouldn’t bet on them but I think you’d be mad to bet against them unless you’re a really keen gambler.

“Football is full of surprises, that’s why it’s the most loved, most watched, most interesting sport in the world for me.”

Players must point fingers

Liverpool’s latest defeat to Forest on Saturday was a second consecutive league loss by a 3-0 scoreline having lost at Manchester City just before the November international break.

Souness fears several players could be showing they are not as good as had previously been perceived.

He explained: “The players that have been down the road, they know what’s expected of Liverpool, they know the demands that’s put on them and that football club by their supporters.

“That’s where I’d be looking. You can look at it this way, are they as good as we thought they were? Maybe not? People that were talking about being great players, are they great players?

“Because now you find out about great players. Now, the people who really matter at a football club, you only need one out and out leader, one.

“Then you’ve got the ones that will dodge in and out of being a leader and they join that one, all of a sudden you’ve got a very strong dressing room. Who’s that man now?”

Souness added that he spoke to a former teammate after the defeat to Forest, who pointed out a key trait which is lacking from the squad.

He continued: “I won’t give any names away (but) 5.30pm on Saturday, I phoned an old player pal of mine. We played in the same team at Liverpool, won everything together.

“I phoned him and I said, ‘what has happened today?’ He said, ‘you wouldn’t believe what’s happened. They’ve gone, they’ve gone.’

“This is my next question. This is what I said, which I think told me everything I need to know. ‘Was anyone getting angry with anyone on the pitch?’ He said, ‘no, their heads were all down.’ That’s not a good sign.”

Van Dijk warning

Turning his attention to individual players, Souness was asked about Van Dijk’s displays so far this season.

The Dutch defender was made captain in 2023 and led the club to the Premier League title last season.

Across almost eight years at Anfield, he has nine trophies, including two Premier League titles, the Champions League and Club World Cup.

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Souness has always had a concern over his leadership qualities, though.

He revealed: “I’m not there on a daily basis with him. I saw something, I’ll say this, controversial or not.

“I’ve seen something in him before he became captain that I didn’t think big players did on a football pitch. That’s my opinion.”

The 72-year-old added: “I find it hard when I get angry. I’m playing with Alan Hansen, I’d show for the ball off Alan Hansen, a simple pass, he’d never give it to me.

“I’d have a go at him afterwards. I’d say, ‘would you just pass the f****** ball to me.’ He’d say, ‘why?’ I’d say, ‘because I can play.’ (He’d say) ‘but I’m better than you, I pass the ball better than you, so why should I pass it to you?’

“When Jordan Henderson was in the team, Jordan Henderson developed like all midfield players seem to do today. They go back to the back four and take a ten-yard pass and pass it ten yards to the right-back. I saw Virgil van Dijk do that every single game on multiple occasions.

“That’s telling me, big players would say, ‘ I can pass it 20 yards to the right-back, I can ping it 30.’ Which he started to do when he became captain.

“But why do you need an armband before you went down that road? Just an observation, just a subtle little thing. I thought, ‘be a leader, tell people ‘do one’, tell them you’re better than them.’”

Who is to blame for Liverpool woes?

Amid Liverpool’s dramatic recent downturn in results, pressure has began to mount on Slot.

The former Feyenoord boss, who replaced Jurgen Klopp in the dugout last summer, won the title in his first season in charge.

Asked if he gets a pass for the results, Souness admitted: “Ultimately, he won’t. Ultimately, he knows his fate if this continues, but my blame would be on the players right now.

“As I’ve said to you already, he’ll be using the same words, he’ll be using the same tactics, he’ll be training the same way, he’ll be resting them up the same way, the travel will be the same, same underwear he’ll wear for football.

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“When you’re a manager, you get into little quirky things. He’ll be doing all that and he’ll be scratching his head and keeping him awake at night.

“I put it firmly at the feet of the players at this time, but I know as a manager you pay the ultimate price.”

Slot’s captaincy conundrum

As for whether there is anything else Slot can do to fix his side’s problems, Souness has ruled out changing his skipper.

He strongly rejected any suggestion Van Dijk should be stripped of the captaincy, responding: “No, no, no, not at this time, no.

“Who’s the obvious one? He is the obvious one. He’s a Rolls Royce of a player, but right now, he’s having the most difficult time of his career at Liverpool.

“What is he, 34 years old now? So he has all the experience, he looks like he’s still got the athleticism. Be a captain now.

“You can only be a captain, as I see it and this is the way I was told, if you’re having a good day. Then help others around you. I would suggest to him, get your job right first.

“And I think the guy next to him, (Ibrahima) Konate, needs a lot of help. That’s the most immediate one he can help and maybe a few others beyond that.”

What has happened to Salah?

Alongside Van Dijk, Salah has been a crucial part of Liverpool’s success in recent seasons.

However, the Egyptian has mustered just four goals and two assists in his 12 Premier League appearances so far this season.

Souness had a blunt response when asked if Salah needs to do better, simply asking: “How long have we got?”

He continued: “He’s been an absolute superstar. This is the nicest thing I can say about Salah, he’s been the go-to man for the last seven years.

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“If you’re picking an all-time Liverpool eleven, he’s one of the first names on the team sheet. I think it’s his brother that’s turned up this season.

“To me, I saw an incident in that Community Shield, just looking for little signals. There was a ball, he had his back to the sideline and a ball’s played up and it’s going towards the left-back in that game against Crystal Palace and he could easily have gone there.

“He’s not going to win it, he’s not a big strong aerial type, but at least he goes and makes life a little bit difficult for the full-back to do what he wants to do with it.

“He made no attempt to make that challenge. I’m thinking, he’s never been the bravest, he’s never going to get hurt in a 50/50, he’s cute as anything and I wouldn’t want him to because he’s such a genius at the top end.

“But he’s shown a lack of appetite and, I’m sorry, hard words sometimes are the kindest words and I think he needs hard words that ultimately are getting him back to being the superstar that he’s been for Liverpool, but this season he has not turned up.”

Salah’s slow start comes after he scored 29 goals and provided 18 assists in the league last season.

The 33-year-old, who signed a new two-year deal in April, scooped both the golden boot and Playmaker of the Season awards as a result of his attacking contributions last term.