A Point Away at a Rival Isn’t a Crime

There’s a bit of football reality that never really changes, no matter how modern the tactics get or how loud the debate is online. Away to a title rival, you don’t hand them momentum in the first half hour. You don’t give them a mad spell, an early goal, or the sort of frantic energy that turns the ground into a wave you can’t get off.

You manage the opening, you keep your shape, you quieten the crowd, and then you grow into it. If your moments come, you take them. If they don’t, you take the draw and get on the coach. That’s not negativity. That’s just the game.

We’ve done this for years, even under the best managers

People talk as if a point away at a rival is some brand new invention designed to spoil their evening. It isn’t. Liverpool have approached big away days like this for decades, and certainly in the modern era too. Under Rafa, managing difficult away fixtures was practically part of the job description.

And under Klopp, for all the heavy metal stuff, there were plenty of matches against the usual suspects where controlling the chaos mattered more than chasing a headline. Sometimes that even applied at Anfield in derby games and against United, when the emotional temperature can get silly very quickly.

Why a 0-0 at Arsenal can be a decent result

Not all 0-0s are the same. You can moan about a goalless draw at home to a side you expect to beat, because the responsibility is on you to create and finish. But away at Arsenal is a different problem entirely.

If you come away from there having largely controlled proceedings, limited their threat, and looked the more composed side for long stretches, it’s hard to argue it’s a disaster. Truth is, a draw in that kind of fixture is often the correct outcome if the big chances don’t drop your way.

Slot isn’t perfect, but the criticism needs to match the game

What I can’t get my head around is this idea that we “played for a draw”, as if the manager set out with a white flag. It feels more like something people are saying because it’s an easy stick to beat Arne Slot with, regardless of what actually happened on the pitch.

Of course not everything is rosy. No one’s saying hand out a lifetime deal and never question anything again. But some of the noise is getting a bit detached from what’s realistic. Even at our very best, we’re not going away to title favourites and going gung-ho, leaving loads of space to be exploited on transitions. That’s not brave, it’s naive.

So what were some expecting, honestly? A basket of goals, a wide-open shootout, and us walking it? Sometimes the grown-up result is the one you take, bank, and build from.

Written by Sean Dundee: 17 January 2026