Good Win, But Liverpool Have So Much More In Them

Liverpool are clearly improving, but you can still see a much higher ceiling there. You come away happy with the win, happy with a lot of the performance, and still quietly thinking: we can be a lot better than this.

Quicker tempo, better press, same old wobbles

There were obvious positives. The tempo was quicker, the ball was moved with a bit more purpose, and the press actually looked coordinated in spells rather than in isolated bursts. You could see the idea: get up the pitch together, force mistakes, and keep the opposition penned in. In stages, it really worked.

But some of the same habits are still hanging around. We allow teams to grow into games by dropping off too much, letting them travel with the ball and ask questions of us around our box. Those little periods where we invite pressure create needless anxious moments, for the crowd and for the players. It’s not about panicking, it is more that you can see the whole stadium thinking: here we go again.

Then there’s the attacking side, especially after the break. The decision making in the final third still goes missing too often. Overhit passes, shots when the pass is on, passes when the shot is on, counter attacks breaking down with the wrong option taken. The structure is there, the patterns are there, but the choices at the end of those moves are not sharp enough for where Liverpool want to be.

Marrying the system with smarter attacking play

The encouraging thing is that you can see the formation and the general system starting to bed in. There were some really tidy phases of play: little triangles, rotations, midfielders stepping into good pockets. This is not a side without an idea, it is a side still learning how to execute it consistently.

The next step is marrying that structure with much better offensive decision making. When we work it into wide areas or into the half-spaces, we need more calm and more clarity. Pick the early pass. Slide someone through. Take an extra touch when it is on, or release it first time when the move is there. If this team starts making cleaner choices in the final third, the same performance level suddenly looks a lot more ruthless on the scoreboard.

Salah spark, right-side chemistry and a few standouts

One of the big positives was how sharp Mohamed Salah looked. When he came on, the whole right side clicked up a gear. The quick interchanges, the one-twos, the little combinations with Wirtz and Szoboszlai gave us a glimpse of something we have seen before and want to see again: that fluent right flank that can hurt teams from anywhere.

It had shades of last season when so much of our best play came down that side with Trent stepping into midfield. The difference now is having Gomez there instead, and to be fair to him he is having a very strong spell. He is not doing the same things as Trent, but he is defending well, using the ball sensibly and giving us a solid platform to build from. That deserves credit.

So yes, it was a good victory and in many ways a good performance. The patterns are improving, the energy looks better and individuals are stepping up. At the same time, the wastefulness and the spells where we invite pressure mean nobody should be getting carried away.

There is loads of work still to do, but that is not a bad place to be. Winning while knowing you can go up a level is exactly where a serious side wants to live. Good win. Loads to fix. We move on.

Written by OliRed: 15 December 2025