I get why Arne Slot has tried to take a little heat out of Liverpool’s game. You could see last season how playing at full tilt every week can catch up with you when the business end arrives. Legs go, sharpness goes, and suddenly the same chaos you lived off starts living off you.

But there’s a balance to strike, and right now it feels like we’ve drifted too far towards control for control’s sake. I miss that feeling from the Klopp years where an opposition corner didn’t spark dread, it sparked possibility. Win the first contact, squeeze the second ball, and you’re off. Two passes and you’re running at a backpedalling defence. Proper Liverpool stuff.

When we slow it down, we help the other side

The biggest frustration is the transition speed. There are moments where we do the hard bit, we regain it in a decent area, and instead of snapping into the space we just… pause. That tiny hesitation is all a Premier League side needs. They drop into shape, pack the edge of the box, and you’re staring at a wall.

Then comes that familiar spell: across, backwards, across again. It looks tidy, but it’s not hurting anyone. If you let teams get two banks behind the ball, you’re basically agreeing to play on their terms. And it’s no surprise the next five minutes becomes probing rather than punishing.

Direct runners still matter, even on bad days

This is where I do think certain profiles get under-appreciated. Darwin Nunez could have an erratic game, and you’d still see defenders panic because he was always threatening the space. Luis Diaz too. Even when the final ball wasn’t perfect, the directness caused havoc. It forced mistakes. It forced decisions. It made games feel like they could tip at any second.

You don’t need to play like a pinball machine every week, but you do need that edge. The threat of it. The sense that if you give Liverpool one loose touch, you’re in trouble immediately.

Control is fine, but it needs a punchline

Slot deserves credit for what he did early on. I liked how he could spot something in a first half and tweak it at the break. That’s proper coaching. Lately, though, it feels like we’re waiting for the game to open up for us rather than ripping it open ourselves.

What I’m crying out for is a mix. Keep the structure, keep the calmer periods, but when the chance is there, take it. Turn a turnover into an attack. Run at them. Make them defend facing their own goal. Because that’s when Liverpool are at their most fun, and usually at their most effective.

Written by Chrisymate: 6 January 2026

Tags: tactics efl match-review