08 Jan 2026 22:41:29
Last season we took a lot of flak from opposition supporters that we ran away with the league because the standard in the league was poor. Of course, we knew better and told them so. We won the League because we were excellent.
I just watched us play Arsenal, the team clear at the top of the League and we held them off comfortably. In fact, we were the better team for much of the second half.
We are playing poorly this season but over half way through the season we are fourth in the League and only the top two have won more games than us.
For me, there are two seperate things.
1. As a team we are playing (mostly) badly. We seem to have no established plan, our execution is poor and it seems that the head coach and his staff have no clearly defined plan.
2. In the context of the League, however, we actually aren't 5hat bad comparatively speaking. City are playing well, Arsenal have the knack of eking out wins (which we had last season and at the start of this season) but we aren't far off being one of the best of the remaining bunch.
So, from this Liverpool fan's perspective we have been mostly poor this season, with the occasionally, very frustrating, glimpse of what we might be able to do, but within the League we will probably end up in a CL qualification spot, which keeps the sponsors happy and the revenue streams healthy.
It's a shame, from a club perspective, that our head coach can't or won't adapt.
It's a shame, from a general football perspective that business trumps the game and poor football is becoming the norm and dross is
Ok providing the money keeps coming in.
08 Jan 2026 23:00:45
We should've won the title this season.
We chucked it away with stupid negative football, and not getting a CB and replacing Diaz.
08 Jan 2026 23:10:48
It's as clear as day that when we go after the ball and teams we play well and when we sit off we play crap.
Watch the players in the first half. Standing in front of Arsenal players with no attempt to get the ball. Allowed Arsenal to do what they want. They had so much possession and luckily had little clue what to do with it.
Second half we tried to get the ball all over the pitch. We tried to tackle.
And when we got forward we attempted to get down the sides at long last. Some poor crossing and no striker hurted us but we tried.
I just feel that we won't learn from that second half and we ll start off the next game messing about half heartedly again.
And I keep saying it. How to beat a low block is not "patience". A low block begs for patience. You hammer though it. Over and over and over again until it caves in.
Is some of the stuff we saw in the second half there the start of something or will Slot revert again. Nothing annoys me more than not learning from mistakes.
We can press and cover the spaces in behind. It's very possible. The passive crap needs to end now. That first half again. My good lord. Seriously. I felt like we were a relegation battler in that first half.
08 Jan 2026 23:51:48
We should be walking this league. Standard is atrocious.
09 Jan 2026 03:35:20
Well I hope we turned a corner tonight. I think second half we seemed to abandon the side to side passing for a more vertical approach. That has to be coaching because we haven't done so much of that this season.
Maybe Slot learned a thing or two tonight and will be more expansive in the upcoming games. We have the players to do it. Not that he cares, but i can support the manager if he plays progressive football and let's the boys play.
09 Jan 2026 08:10:48
The team always plays better against teams who don't want to sit deep and play on the counter. It's those kind of teams who cause us trouble usually with powerful runners breaking through our unfit midfield.
The other problem with playing against the park the bus teams is that they can handle our slow buildup passing game easily. We only score from opposition mistakes at the moment. Relying on wirtz for a moment of magic is too unreliable. We should counter attack the counter attack with accuracy and speed. This is where we miss Trent, his passing to Salah or mane could open up teams like a surgeons scalpel.
09 Jan 2026 08:51:05
That's right King.
We haven't got the right quality at the moment, shown by poor final ball and lack of clear chances, to carve up teams in the final third. At the moment that's partly due to injuries, and AFCON, but Mo and Isak weren't playing well.
That's bizarre when you think how much we spent on offensive players.
The only one who we haven't seen much of offensively at all is Kerkez. So perhaps if we gave him that bit more freedom it would help our chance creation. We're too predictable atm. To do that we may need to change midfield as we can't carry Macallister any longer.
09 Jan 2026 12:01:34
There's no point saying 'we should'. The simple fact is, we haven't. The fact we haven't down to mis-management rather than player capability. Going to Arsenal and keeping them scoreless isn't a bad effort at any time and is a positive step forward. Ten games unbeaten is also a positive step forward - especially with the current injuries and player availability - but we have to rake the next step from 'positive steps / signs' and start to take games by the scruff of the neck.
We are good enough to do it with the squad we have + now it's time for Slot to introduce a system that plays to our strengths.
09 Jan 2026 12:02:22
If either manager had been brave enough then there could have been goals last night.
Yes, frimpongs crosses were poor but he nothing to aim for. Liverpool tallest attacking player was on the opposite line making no effort to attack the penalty area most. of the time.