Theo Walcott believes Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk looks ‘an absolute shadow of a player’ and said Arne Slot’s side need to ‘forget about their egos’ if they are to get back to their best.

The defending champions won their opening five games of the new Premier League season, but a disastrous run of form now has them seventh in the table and seven points off leaders Arsenal.

The Reds suffered yet another loss at the weekend, a 3-2 defeat to Brentford, meaning they have won just one of their last six games in all competitions and have lost four on the bounce in the league.

Despite the departures of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Luis Diaz, Liverpool went some way to strengthening their squad by spending almost £450million in the summer window.

However, the high-profile signings of Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak are yet to pay dividends, and have left Slot constantly chopping and changing as he looks to find a set-up which gets the best out of his new-look squad.

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