The ‘great’ Reds star of last season is now a ‘nervous wreck’ under Arne Slott

Liverpool defender Conor Bradley has gone from “excellent” to “a nervous wreck” in a short space of time, according to Micah Richards.

The Reds lost their fourth match in all competitions on Sunday Arch-rivals Manchester United beat them 2-1 at Anfield.

Liverpool It was a nightmare week before the international break which saw them take advantage as they surrendered a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League.

Losses to Crystal Palace and Chelsea allowed Arsenal to go one point clear before the international break, with the Gunners extending their lead to four points at the weekend, while Liverpool were also beaten by Galatasaray in the Champions League.

Most expected Man Utd – who had not won back-to-back matches in the Premier League under Ruben Amorim – to lose.

Bradley is one of a number of players whose standards have dropped this season with the Northern Ireland international completing just once 90 minutes for Liverpool this season.

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Bradley was again sent off early against Man Utd and former Man City right-back Micah Richards, with the Liverpool defender “looking like a panic” this season.

Richards said The rest is football: “Bradley was excellent last season when he filled in for Trent (Alexander-Arnold). He was dynamic, he could tackle one-on-one, the Liverpool fans were really buying into what he was doing.

“He’s a shadow of the player this Liverpool side has been this season. He’s playing within himself at the moment. He needs to get it out of his head that he’s there to replace Trent, because he can’t, Trent was a one-in-a-million player.

“At the moment he looks like a nervous wreck. When you have a midfielder coming in to replace you at right-back, it shows you have to do more.”

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When asked what he felt went wrong against Man Utd, Liverpool boss Slott told the post-match press conference: “The result is that we went 1-0 down so quickly. If you play united, they have a lot of quality players (and) some new ones brought in this summer – and if they come to us in the low block, want to play a lot of long balls.

“Because it gives them even more belief. If you had told me we were 1-0 down against a United team that plays the way they do, and you told me we would create eight, nine, 10 open chances, I would have told you I didn’t think it was possible. But it was possible.

“So, the other thing that went wrong is that out of all the chances we had, we only scored one goal.

“I’ve said it many times in Holland and maybe I’ve said it here too, it’s almost impossible to win a big game of football – and Liverpool v United is a big game with a lot of quality players on the pitch.

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