A Top-Four Side With Too Many Gaps

It feels like we’re living in that awkward space: good enough for the top four conversation, not convincing enough to threaten properly. The worrying bit is how many areas look like they need help at once.

For me it’s a combination of things, and that’s what makes it feel so heavy. We’re in the top four mix, but it’s hard to kid ourselves we’re much more than that right now. Even in a league that’s been a bit stop-start at times, we’ve looked stop-start ourselves.

Risk-averse football, slow transitions

A chunk of it comes back to Arne and what we’re trying to be. The football has felt too cautious, especially when we win it and should be breaking with real purpose. Instead we can look slow to turn pressure into chances, and that makes everything harder: the crowd gets edgy, the forwards get starved, and we end up playing in front of set defences.

Maybe it’s a bedding-in period, maybe it’s the profile of the squad, but I can’t shake the feeling it’s gone backwards rather than forwards. Liverpool sides at their best don’t tiptoe. They force you to make decisions.

The left side drop-off is real

You only have to look at the left to see where the level has shifted over time. The drop from Mané to Díaz to Gakpo is sizeable. Díaz can hurt teams on his day, but the consistency isn’t there often enough, and Gakpo feels like a useful squad option rather than the lad you build your attack around.

If you want to move from “top-four contenders” to something more serious, that’s the type of position where you need genuine top quality.

Right-back, centre-back, and midfield balance

The right side has its own issues. Connor is young, and you can see the talent, but he’s been inconsistent and, as you’ve said, he feels injury-prone too. That screams for proper competition at the very least, and possibly a longer-term replacement depending on how it goes.

Centre-back is another one. Konaté has had spells where he looks closer to what we hoped, but I’d still be looking at strengthening there. And midfield? We’re not dominant enough. Curtis can be excellent one week and anonymous the next. Mac Allister looks like he’s running on fumes. We need an aggressive, mobile central midfielder who can drive the team and, in an ideal world, make it easier to use a proper 10.

Get that right and you start talking about sensible rotation too: Szoboszlai and Gravenberch sharing minutes, a more natural option at 10 in the mix, and fewer games where we feel a bit soft in the middle.

And yeah, even keeper feels like it needs thinking about. Alisson has set the standard for years, but nobody goes on forever, and you need a credible plan behind him. Last season may have papered over some cracks. Following Jürgen was always going to be massive, same as following the best of this era. Truth is, we’ve got to rebuild the level, not just the names.

Written by Hugo Spritz: 7 January 2026