Former Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer claims that Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate were “all over the place” as Liverpool lost to Brentford on Saturday.

In one month, Liverpoolhave gone from five points clear at the top of the Premier League to seven points adrift of leaders Arsenal.

The Reds have now lost four games on the spin with defeats to Crystal Palace, Chelsea, Manchester United and Brentford leaving them in seventh position.

Arne Slot’s midfield looks disjointed, while their defence is a shadow of the one which conceded just 41 goals on the way to the Premier League title last term.

Although Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong and other new signings have taken a lot of the blame for their poor form, Shearer reckons Konate and Van Dijk were “awful” against Brentford in their 3-2 loss on Saturday.

Shearer told The Rest Is Football podcast: “Say what you want about Liverpool in midfield or up front, but defensively, oh my word.

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“The two full-backs have had a lot of stick and a lot of criticism and I understand that, but the two centre halves (Konate and Van Dijk) are all over the place. They have been terrible, and they were again at Brentford. They were awful, both of them, Van Dijk and Konate.”

Former Liverpool defender Steve Nicol accused Van Dijk of a “horrible piece of defending” to give away a penalty against Brentford as a “disease” spreads around the camp.

Nicol told ESPN: “The penalty sums up exactly what Liverpool are right now.

“You have your so called leader, so called best defender in the world, who has given a penalty away on the edge of the box on a ball that he is so late to. He’s tried to clear it!

“It is such a horrible piece of defending from a guy who we know can be so good. It is like a disease, it is spreading around the whole team.”

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Mohamed Salah has taken on plenty of criticism in recent weeks and was dropped to the bench by Slot for their 5-1 Champions League victory over Eintracht Frankfurt in midweek – but Nicol reckons the Liverpool forward should start their next match.

On the Egyptian, Nicol added: “The reason why I said he should start the next game is because goals change players.

“They change the mindset and the fact he has got a goal will change his mindset from doom and gloom, to ‘right, I’ve broken the ice, now I can go forward and keep scoring goals’.

“Do you really turn around and not play him? Again, another reason why he should be playing is because there isn’t really anyone knocking on the door saying ‘you can’t leave me out’. So I think the goal means he has to play.

“Had he finished the game like he has done all season, then you would be within your right to leave him out, but I think that goal means you have to play him.”

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