Arsenal remains perfect, but there are cracks starting to form elsewhere. Real Madrid stumbled to another loss, this time to Manchester City at the Bernabéu, while Liverpool offered a look at what life might be like without Mohamed Salah.
Read on as ESPN experts Mark Ogden, Sam Tighe, Julien Laurens and Gab Marcotti offer their thoughts on Matchday 6.
- Man City's win casts more doubt on Xabi Alonso's future at Real Madrid
- Lindop: Liverpool earns Slot much-needed win amid Salah saga
- VAR Review: Why was Ibrahima Konaté's Liverpool goal ruled out?
Q1. Liverpool defeated Internazionale without Salah. Assuming he is leaving in January, what did you like about Tuesday's win, and where are the Reds' remaining issues?
Marcotti: Maybe I'm just a fanboy, but I think there's a way back for Salah and I think he will come back ... at some point. He's on big money, he has just over 18 months left on his contract, the sort of clubs that can afford him probably don't need him, and I don't think he wants to end his Liverpool career like this.
So, I'm looking at Tuesday's formation with the midfield diamond, and asking whether it fits Liverpool's squad. And the reality, I think, is that it does -- with some caveats. Hugo Ekitike, Cody Gakpo and Alexander Isak can all play in a front two, with some tweaks. So can Salah, who did it early in his career (and, arguably, was doing it in Liverpool's Roberto Firmino years). Federico Chiesa too, while we're at it. And obviously Florian Wirtz can slot in at No. 10.
They have four competent central midfielders for the three positions, plus, potentially Wataru Endo in certain situations and at some point, Stefan Bajcetic will be back too, you imagine. There's a width issue there, of course, but it might actually be more comfortable for wing backs Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez. So yeah, it's worth trying, though it's not going to be an instant fix. And, of course, the pressing patterns are all different in this scheme, so Arne Slot would need to work on that too.
Laurens: I liked what I saw on Tuesday night and I thought Liverpool were more balanced, better structured and coherent against Inter. That's a positive and it shows that the 4-4-2 diamond can work -- that's fine. But why is everyone saying that this should be the system going forward?
This squad has everything to be pragmatic tactically. They have all the talent and the players to set up in different formations and have results. The diamond is an option and a good one. A flat 4-4-2 with Gakpo on one side and Dominik Szoboszlai on the left would also be a good move too in certain games. Take Saturday for example; Isak is still very far from his best, and I wouldn't mind seeing him benched against Brighton
