Liverpool have lost six of their previous seven Premier League games and are already out of the title race.

Gary Neville has insisted that Arne Slot needs to change his philosophy to turn around Liverpool’s dire form.

The Reds’ Premier League title defence is over before Christmas after suffering six losses in seven games. A 3-0 defeat by Nottingham Forest leaves them 11 points behind leaders Arsenal in the table.

Given that Liverpool were favourites to retain the English championship, having spent circa £450 million in the summer transfer window, the shock drop in form has led to Slot coming under pressure. Results need to improve to ensure that Liverpool are challenging for a top-four finish this campaign.

Liverpool have been highly vulnerable in defence, having conceded 20 goals in their opening 12 matches and kept only three clean sheets. Neville believes that Slot needs to delve from his favoured 4-3-2-1 formation and opt for a pragmatic approach. That includes naming Joe Gomez, who is a centre-back, at right-back in a 4-4-2 system for the Reds to make it hard for teams to break them down.

What’s been said

Speaking on The Gary Neville Podcast, the former Manchester United defender said: “The manager has to change the style or the system and help them. It means being more solid in midfield and the back, and personnel changes. [Milos] Kerkez is struggling, [Ibrahima] Konate is struggling so do you have to put four centre-backs in your back four and keep a narrow, tight back four and tell everyone you mean business to keep clean sheets and stop teams having chances on your goal.

“Then in midfield, you put a narrow four in there. That could be [Dominik] Szoboszlai, [Alexis] Mac Allister, [Ryan] Gravenberch and [Florian] Wirtz or [Cody]Gakpo tucked in a bit more narrow and you might leave [Mo] Salah off [Hugo] Ekitike or [Alexander] Isak or play Ekitike and Isak. Leave them up there, work as a two and do something a bit different. It feels a bit basic and I’m telling Arne Slot what to do but I’ve seen world-class managers drop their ego on how we are going to play, forget we’re a great side and a great club - you’re not as this moment, you’re easily beatable so have to do something different and pay teams respect and change.

"I called on it a few weeks ago, I said maybe Joe Gomez should play right-back, Andy Robertson at left-back and play as a narrow back four. Be a bit more pragmatic. Something has to change in the collective in terms of how they are going to play. From an individual perspective you have to strip it right back to the foundations, whether that's sleep, stretching, eating, the tiny details. Do everything better.

"Slot is a brilliant manager with real class, but he's got to reverse and do something different - maybe make some difficult decisions. He's going to come under pressure, let's not get too carried away with that. The players have to step up, or it will become a problem."