Liverpool limping toward title with big summer rebuild required

LONDON -- Has a team ever been such a deserved Premier League winner-in-waiting yet so obviously in need of a rebuild at the same time? This is the curious position Liverpool occupy after Sunday's 3-2 defeat at Fulham, a result that surely will do little to alter the trajectory of this season's title race but still casts fresh doubt over their durability at the top beyond the summer.

Arne Slot's side remain 11 points clear of Arsenal and require that number again from their final seven matches to secure a record-equaling 20th English top-flight title. It will still stand as a stunning achievement for Slot and his players, defying conventional thinking that a period of transition would be inevitable following Jürgen Klopp's departure. Winning the league would be a just reward for a team that has displayed more consistency than any other rival -- this was, after all, their first league defeat away from Anfield for Slot and ends a 26-game unbeaten run.

And yet, they are also capable of this. A performance of such abominable defending that reinforces concerns that Liverpool need to make significant waves in the summer transfer market, even if they keep the three stars out of contract in a couple of months' time.

Trent Alexander-Arnold looks increasingly likely to join Real Madrid, with Conor Bradley an obvious successor at right-back. But any thought that Curtis Jones could prove an able deputy in that position was shattered here. To compound that discovery, Andy Robertson endured the sort of torrid afternoon that adds weight to the idea the 31-year-old left-back's best days are behind him. Two new full-backs may be required.

Fulham, for their part, pressed extremely well and took their chances. But every member of Liverpool's back four at Craven Cottage made avoidable, individual errors which allowed the hosts to emphatically overturn Alexis Mac Allister's fine 13th-minute strike from long range that opened the scoring.

Jones could only get his knee to Andreas Pereira's 23rd-minute cross, diverting the ball back into the danger area where Ryan Sessegnon thrashed a shot past Caoimhín Kelleher, deputizing for Alisson as the Brazilian continues his recovery from a concussion sustained while on international duty. Robertson then attempted to set a record for most mistakes in a single passage of play. His cross-field pass found Alex Iwobi before his attempted intervention then gave Iwobi a second chance to cause problems. The Fulham winger did just that, moving the ball to his left and firing a shot that Robertson deflected past Kelleher. Ibrahima Konaté looked shaky from the outset, but it was the usually stoic Virgil van Dijk who was turned far too easily by Rodrigo Muniz as he collected Iwobi's hopeful lofted ball before drilling a low shot past Kelleher.

Three goals in 14 minutes represented a stunning collapse; it is the first time Liverpool had conceded three times in the first half of a Premier League game since October 2020 and the first time in their history after scoring the opening goal.

"I saw some very good build-up situations -- the way we positioned ourselves," Slot said post-match. "It wasn't 45 minutes of disaster. But the errors are not something we are used to and that's something different than playing poorly, in my opinion.

"One of the reasons why we are in the positions we are in is that we don't make a lot of mistakes and if we do, the players try to make up for them. This can happen, especially if you play a good team like Fulham. In the end, we created so many chances that we could have made up for it. We lacked time. Then the last 20-25 minutes, I think it was clear."

Liverpool's response hinted at why they have forged such a commanding lead at the top. Diogo Jota went close three minutes after the restart, and Slot went through his options in turn, first introducing Luis Díaz and Harvey Elliott before Bradley, Darwin Núñez and Federico Chiesa joined the fight.

Díaz halved the deficit with a well-taken goal on 72 minutes to set up a tense finale in which Mohamed Salah never really came alive, blazing over his only major chance earlier in the game. Instead, Elliott hit the crossbar and Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno made two further stoppage-time saves as the home side hung on. The result takes Marco Silva's team up to eighth in the table and not without hope that a Champions League spot could be within their grasp.

Fulham were excellent throughout -- Sander Berge battled admirably in midfield while Calvin Bassey shackled Salah -- but Liverpool's inability to find a way back also underlined their reliance on the Egypt international to make the difference. He has done so time and again -- scoring 27 goals in 31 league appearances -- but after netting in eight successive games, he now has two from seven matches and both of those were penalties against Southampton, who at the same time as this game were across London having their relegation confirmed at Tottenham Hotspur.

On Salah's struggles, Slot said: "Maybe he should see it as a compliment [that people are talking about it] because his numbers were not normal [when he was scoring]. The good thing about Mo is he knows what kind of player he is. Mo will show up again, I don't worry about that."

Liverpool have benefitted from their key players staying fit for so much more of the campaign than their rivals -- think Rodri's knee injury at Manchester City or lengthy absences for Bukayo Saka, Martin Ødegaard, Kai Havertz and Ben White at Arsenal -- but the requirement for Salah to deliver in every game has become an issue they must address at the end of the season, most acutely if he does leave the club. And you can add a centre-forward to the list of summer requirements.

The talk before this game was about winning margins -- the biggest in Premier League history is the 19 points City finished above Manchester United in 2017-18 -- and the precise date they can mathematically secure the title.

This was a reminder there is still a job to be done. And, simultaneously, that the work of staying the best side in England must continue apace this summer.