Are We Critiquing Tactics, Or A Feeling?

Liverpool’s “tactics” debate feels vague at times. The shape and approach have shifted game to game, and the bigger issue lately looks less like negativity and more like how we manage key moments.

Every time Liverpool drop points, out comes the same phrase: “the tactics”. But half the time it isn’t really tactics being discussed at all, it’s a vibe. It reads like shorthand for “not Klopp’s football”, or simply: we’re keeping the ball a bit more and taking fewer risks than people are comfortable with.

“The tactics” isn’t one fixed thing

The funny part is the approach hasn’t even been static. It’s changed game by game, and it’s shifted within games too. Even small things, like what happens once Salah goes off, can alter how we build attacks and how we protect ourselves in transition.

That’s why the blanket claim of “these tactics will win nothing” always jars. Not because everyone has to love what they’re seeing, but because football history laughs at the idea there’s only one acceptable way to win trophies. Mourinho built a career on control and pragmatism. Tuchel won the Champions League with structure and game management. None of it looked like gegenpressing, and it still got the job done.

We’re not hanging on for dear life

Another line that does the rounds: “we could easily have lost that” after games we’ve won. I’m not having it. In plenty of those matches, Liverpool were the better side and deserved the points. The frustrating bit isn’t that we’re being battered and nicking it. It’s that we’re giving away what we’ve earned.

That’s a very different problem to a proper bad run, where you’re losing your duels, can’t finish even when you create something, and you’re constantly open to counters or set pieces. Recently, it’s felt more like control for long spells, then one moment of madness and suddenly the whole thing wobbles.

The set-piece wobble is the real tell

If there’s one pattern worth talking about, it’s how fragile we can look after conceding from a set piece. We can be cruising, looking comfortable, then a soft one goes in and we drop our level straight away. That has to be addressed, because it’s costing us.

And it’s why I do wonder sometimes: are we supporting the team, or supporting a certain idea of football? I’m not convinced Arne Slot’s approach is “negative” at all. There’s control there, and there are good spells that should be built on. With confidence, players bedding in, and a couple of smart additions, this can look a very different Liverpool. For me, recent games still give reasons to feel optimistic.

Written by PatrikBurgher: 7 January 2026