I’m not really buying the idea that this is mainly on the players, or that this squad is somehow so limited that nobody could do a better job with it. You can blame a dip in confidence, you can blame the odd poor performance, but at some point you have to look at what’s being asked of them and whether it actually suits what we’ve got.
There’s been a lot of talk about “transition”, as if that alone explains why so many lads look miles off it. And yes, new ideas take time. But that argument only goes so far when most of these players have already lived and breathed the Premier League. They know the speed of it, the physicality, the way games swing. Transition can’t be a get-out-of-jail-free card for every flat performance.
When it’s everyone, it stops being individual
What doesn’t stack up for me is blaming it on age or one or two out-of-form names. If it was just the older lads dropping off, you could at least tell yourself it’s nature taking its course. But when you’re seeing poor form across the side, including younger players who should be thriving, then it points somewhere else.
That “some of them are past it” line also ignores that effort hasn’t always been the problem. You can see players working hard, doing the running, trying to follow instructions. The issue is whether the instructions are putting them in the best places to do what they’re good at.
Selection, shape, and the missing intensity
Occam’s razor and all that. The simplest explanation is usually the one staring you in the face: the choices on the touchline. For me, the big red flags have been poor selection, constant tinkering with the formation, and a style of play that feels slow and predictable too often. The ball moves like it’s got a weight on it, and by the time we try to speed it up the opposition are already set.
More than anything, it’s the drop-off in pressing and aggression in winning it back. Liverpool sides at their best don’t wait politely for the game to come to them. They squeeze, they force mistakes, they make it horrible. When that intensity goes, you’re left hoping for moments rather than creating waves.
Panic subs don’t build a team
The substitutions have felt like “kitchen sink” stuff too often. Not tweaks that improve the structure, but changes that disrupt it. It can look like we’re reacting rather than imposing ourselves, and that’s how you end up with players doing jobs they’re not suited to, then getting stick for not looking comfortable.
And this is why I’m not that comforted by results that don’t match the performance. Points are points, obviously, but scraping through while looking poor can paper over the bigger problem. Some fans will say give Arne Slot time because they don’t see who improves it. I get that. But others look at the same squad and think it’d be hard to do much worse with it.
Time will tell who’s right. My worry is what this does to the team’s fitness and mentality if it drags on. That’s why, for me, it’s already gone too far.
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