Liverpool are currently a shadow of the efficient machine that strolled the Premier League last season, having looked vulnerable since day one this season in a Community Shield defeat by Crystal Palace at Wembley.
They are riddled with flaws, remarkable given the fact Slot was handed almost £450m to strengthen the newly-crowned champions.
And amid all the understanding that even stellar names signed in record-breaking deals such as £116m for Florian Wirtz and £125m for Alexander Isak require a settling-in period, the bottom line is that neither have produced anything near enough.
Isak was anonymous again, having been chosen ahead of the much livelier Hugo Ekitike, while Wirtz once again had to be content with coming off the bench.
Their proven quality will make Liverpool optimistic their massive outlay will be rewarded, but their contribution so far, at a combined cost of £241m, has not stretched far beyond non-existent.
“Arne Slot has a couple of decisions to make,” former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock told 5 Live.
“Szobozslai looks like the better right-back and suits going into midfield from that position, but does he like being there? No, but for the good of the team it would work better.
“Then Frimpong comes on down the right and has more of an influence in 10 minutes or so than Salah in most of the game. He put two exceptional balls into the box, and Gakpo should have scored from one of them. Ekitike did more when he came on up top than Isak did too.”
For a team that carried an air of calm laced with deadly threat last season, Liverpool now give off an air of chaos and a lack of organisation, especially in their defensive work.
Milos Kerkez struggled badly again, almost scoring an unwitting own goal with a rebound off his face in the second half, which would have summed up Liverpool’s defending.
The debate will continue about whether referee Michael Oliver should have stopped play when Liverpool’s Alexis Mac Allister lay prone nursing a head injury, inflicted accidentally by captain Virgil van Dijk’s elbow.
Instead, the game continued, Bryam Mbeumo taking advantage of Van Dijk reacting slowly to recover his position, finishing smartly past Liverpool’s deputy keeper Giorgi Mamardashvili.
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