Are Liverpool getting too streetwise?

I’ve started noticing something with Liverpool lately that I don’t remember being as common under Klopp: players buying contact, staying down a touch longer, looking to win the free-kick rather than just cracking on. It’s not every minute of every match, but once you clock it, you can’t unsee it.

The thing is, there was always an obvious pride in playing through it before. Salah, especially, used to get clattered all over the place and still try to ride it. You’d see him nudged, grabbed, clipped, and he’d still be thinking about the next touch rather than the next whistle. That attitude felt like part of the identity: tempo first, referee second.

Free-kicks as a tactic, not a consequence

Now it feels a bit more deliberate. Not necessarily in a nasty way, more like we’re learning how to manage moments. Win the foul, slow the opponent down, get your breath back, let the shape reset. You can point to a few lads where it’s stood out at times: Mac Allister, Konate, and you mentioned Frimpong and Kerkez earlier in the season too.

If that’s a coached behaviour under Arne Slot, you can see the logic. Football’s details are ruthless. A cheap free-kick can kill a counter, break momentum, and let you squeeze up the pitch again. It’s the sort of thing that looks “clever” when it works and looks “soft” when it doesn’t.

The wider problem: the league feels slower

It’s not just us either. Loads of games have that stop-start feel at the minute, even when the teams are full of quality. Big sides still win because they’ve got better players and more control, but plenty of matches are drifting into that careful, low-risk rhythm where everyone’s waiting for someone else to blink.

And that’s where the City comparison comes in. Whether teams are copying them or not, the influence is obvious: control the ball, control the rest periods, control where the game is played. Some weeks it feels like everyone’s trying to be “mature” at the same time, and the entertainment takes the hit.

Who benefits from the boredom?

The irony is that slow football can suit different sides for different reasons. If the league collectively drops the tempo, you give organised teams a better chance to stay in games. And if everyone’s playing within themselves, the sides with clear patterns and confidence can look sharper simply by being more decisive.

For Liverpool, I don’t mind a bit of game management. It’s part of winning. But I do worry about the trade-off: the best version of us is aggressive, brave, and relentless. If we’re constantly stopping play, do we end up stopping ourselves?

Written by Red-JC: 31 December 2025