Liverpool are about one week away from the end of what has been, in the most generous of terms, a down year. Never mind that expectations and standards (more on that in a minute) at Liverpool are generally sky high given the club’s history, most would have expected Liverpool to do better than fifth and looking a shaky bet to claim a Champions League berth within an expanded format given their title win and a transfer window that had them as consensus winners. Liverpool were a Premier League titleholder that had transformed into a potential dynasty.
You can’t blame Liverpool fans and footballing pundits for being so effusive either; the club signed a generational talent from Germany, beating out Bayern Munich in the process. Then, to prepare for the eventual departure of Mohamed Salah, they signed arguably the best striker in the league besides Erling Haaland in Alexander Isak. And, if that were enough, that came after already beating Newcastle to Hugo Ekitike, a striker whose profile some likened to Isak. Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong seemed shrewd gets to prepare for more transition, with the Reds’ famed fullbacking duo of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson was on its way out given the departure of the former to Real Madrid. We know now, the Scotsman is leaving at the end of this season.
All of those moves were set to bolster a team that had effectively won the Premier League in a walk. Liverpool were automatic contenders – on paper. But as the saying goes, that’s why we play the games. And, well, Liverpool have come up as losers in precisely half of the matches they’ve played this year. Not nearly half as good, then, to lay claim to the title.
How do you solve a problem like Slot’s Liverpool? It’s the question fans, pundits, and – we’re told – Arne Slot himself has been trying to answer all year. (It’s funny to imagine Arne singing that question to himself, Sound of Music style. Which, honestly, I’ll take for a win cause honestly this year has been dire.) We’ll get around to potential solutions in a second but I think we have to be honest that, at least at this juncture, the problems are myriad and seemingly complex.
First, let’s acknowledge the fact that Liverpool’s injury record this season has been abysmal. At one point, there was one senior fullback available and even they ended up injured after deputizing at the role. At right back, in particular, the loss of Conor Bradley coupled with the nagging injuries confronting Jeremie Frimpong led to the deployments of Dominik Szoboszlai, Joe Gomez (the aforementioned deputy who ended up injured), and Curtis Jones in this position. In fact, while it’s entirely possible I dreamt this, I feel like there was a point during the injury crisis that Gomez was deputizing at right-back, Ibrahima Konate sustained an injury during a match, and then Ryan Gravenberch went to center-back. And that’s all before mentioning Alexander Isak suffering a leg break as he scored his first Premier League goal.
You can’t make players appear out of thin air and so I won’t pin this on any one person. But moving away from personnel, it’s hard to understand the drop-off in terms of quality across the board. I don’t think anyone would have counted such a steep regression from Mohamed Salah – even allowing that some would inevitably come after a record setting season. But aside Szoboszlai, it felt like the entire squad regressed.
Beyond individual performance levels, the starkness in the drop in quality across the departments/phases of play is dramatic. First, a defense that holds one of the greatest defenders to ever play now looks entirely pedestrian. I don’t think I’ve watched a Liverpool team be played through so easily and so often as this one. And when you zoom to the front end of the pitch, I can’t recall the last match where it felt like the attack and finishing felt like it was always going to lead to something. I’m not asking for a return to the peak of Jurgen Klopp’s attacking team, mind. But something cohesive and befitting of the quality of the players assembled would be great. But this club looked no more ready to unlock a low block than they were capable of stopping a ball played from the half-space and into willing runners attacking the channels. Front and back, Liverpool looked a mess.
Liverpool’s ability to force the play, as well, looked missing. While I wouldn’t call Slot’s title-winning defense an all-out pressing machine, I do remember the press being existent. We’ve transitioned away from that but into what I cannot wholly describe. None of the players in the front end of the pitch look capable of winning the ball back and Liverpool’s backline look incredibly exposed most of the game.
I have theories – Trent’s turn as an inverted fullback added defensive stability while maximizing his irreplaceable gifts as a progressive passer meant that his departure would throw us into more chaos than we expected. But it doesn’t explain the seeming incapability of the current attacking players to find any kind of joy given the quality on offer. And while we can chicken-and-egg this all day, it’s possible for a team to play on tilt if at least one of the phases of play is elite and another is competent; Brendan Rodgers Liverpool really leaned into the concede three but score four chaos of having a world class attack and a shaky defense. But this iteration of Liverpool look, at best, mediocre.
It is, all told, the head coach’s job to sort this out. And Arne Slot has not shown any evidence that he’ll be able to sort it out. Which is, perhaps, the part that is the most concerning at the moment. Other writers at TLO have mentioned this, but it’s been over a year now since we’ve seen a swashbuckling version of Liverpool. One that inspired confidence on match days. One that, dare I say, made you compelled to watch.
Slot came into this year the envy of many managers in that he had the goodwill earned from guiding a team to the title with minimal investment. There’s talent there – knowing what to do with pieces you inherit and pushing the appropriate buttons to maximize the return are valuable skills required to succeed at this level.
What’s quite concerning is that while he likely isn’t responsible for the recruitment window: the distance between “head coach” and “manager” isn’t me being pedantic, but rather intentional in that Liverpool’s set-up wants personnel decisions to live higher up the chain. That isn’t enough, though, to cleave Slot from holding some of the accountability for this year’s mess.
Salah’s production is down. Cody Gakpo was supposed to flourish with the opportunity to play in his preferred position and instead has become utterly predictable (and incredibly frustrating when paired with Milos Kerkez on the left). Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch both look a step off their best. And Ibrahima Konate hasn’t exactly had a season to crow about.
One player, maybe two, having issues is normal. But entire departments? Nearly the entire squad? That hints at something deeper. Something more pressing.
I am deeply empathetic given that this team has had to deal with an unimaginable burden over the course of the year. And I trust that their grief is still something they’re managing. But I am also seeing a team that looks ready to turn it in and that looks so foreign to me after having lived through Jurgen Klopp.
I don’t think the team needs to return to that – and, really, how would you go back to an iconic, lightning-in-a-bottle individual like the German? It does, though, suffer from a lack of identity. Even when struggling, we know what to expect from a Klopp team. Did it always look pretty? No. That post title-winning season, in particular, was a real test for me as a fan. But we know this was a team that would work its socks off to impose its style onto the match. I don’t know what a Slot team in full flight is supposed to look like. I don’t know how this team is meant to defend, build-up, or attack.
What’s most damning, though, is that I don’t know that this team would even fight for the chance to show us.