The way I see it, this season hasn’t unravelled because Liverpool didn’t build a decent squad. It’s unravelled because the two things you can’t really plan for hit at the same time: long-term injuries and a proper collapse in form from players we normally bank on.

And that’s why the whole “it’s recruitment” argument feels too neat. You can have a sensible, well-balanced group, and still end up miles away from where you expect if your pillars aren’t holding the roof up.

Depth is never equal depth

At the start of the season, it looked like we had two players for every position. Not perfect in every spot, but broadly covered. That’s what most top sides aim for.

But the bit people ignore is that “two per position” doesn’t mean “two of the same level”. It never does. The drop-off between first choice and second choice is normal, even at the best clubs. If your second-choice player is genuinely as good as your first-choice player, one of them isn’t going to be happy sitting on the bench for long.

So, yes, there were areas where you’d worry about the fall from starter to deputy. That’s football. That’s squad building. You accept a little compromise because you can’t stockpile elite players everywhere.

When the big lads dip, everything else looks worse

The bigger issue is the form. If the players you expect to carry you are suddenly miles off it, the whole side looks fragile. According to the view here, Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Konate and Alisson haven’t been near their expected level this season, with Salah and Konate especially struggling.

That changes the pressure on everyone else. It’s not just that you lose quality, you lose calm, rhythm, and leadership. Suddenly your “depth options” aren’t coming in to rotate or add energy. They’re being asked to carry minutes and responsibility they weren’t meant to have.

And once that starts, you get a strange knock-on effect: every off day becomes a crisis, every mistake becomes proof the squad isn’t good enough. Sometimes it’s just the foundations wobbling.

Injuries turn a plan into a scramble

Then there’s the fitness side of it. The point being made is simple: the injuries haven’t been the odd one here and there, they’ve been enough to wreck continuity. Leoni’s long-term injury, Isak being in and out before a leg break, plus knocks and longer issues for Frimpong and Bradley, is the kind of run that forces you into constant reshuffling.

And in a league as relentless as the Premier League, you don’t get many weeks to “play through it” and find form. You either have legs and confidence, or you’re hanging on.

Truth is, you can debate why the form has dropped and why the injuries have piled up, but that’s mostly guesswork from the outside. What feels fair is this: the squad can compete at the top when it’s fit and firing. We just haven’t seen that version of Liverpool often enough this season.

Written by Sean Dundee: 26 January 2026

Tags: injury efl squad