Nine Unbeaten: Papering Over Cracks?

Nine unbeaten sounds lovely when it’s written down in a neat little run. You can see why people cling to it. The trouble is, football isn’t a spreadsheet, and plenty of us have watched these games and thought: hang on, what’s actually improving here?

The point being made is simple enough. Look at the opponents and look at how tight a lot of it has felt. Wins that could easily have been draws. Draws that should have been wins. And a general sense that we’re not putting teams away, even when the quality across the pitch is clearly in our favour.

Results without authority

Beating teams you’re expected to beat is part of the job, obviously. But there’s a difference between controlling a match and just getting through it. In this view, the unbeaten run is packed with games against sides described as average at best, and the worrying bit is that Liverpool have still looked fragile inside those matches.

That’s where the frustration comes from. If you’re grinding out one-goal wins and hanging on, the question naturally follows: what happens when the fixture list stops being kind? It’s not that anyone expects perfection every week. It’s that this run is being held up as progress, and it doesn’t feel like progress when you’re repeatedly one moment away from dropping points.

Game management has to mean something

The draws sting in a particular way. Dropping points after being in a strong position, or failing to land a punch at home, always leaves a bad taste because it speaks to game management and mentality as much as tactics. It’s not about demanding fireworks every week. It’s about seeing a team that knows how to finish a job.

If you’re going two goals up late on, you expect a boring ending. Keep the ball, slow it down, win your fouls, take the sting out. Likewise at Anfield, even an “okay” opponent shouldn’t be able to make you look timid. That’s the standard this club has set for years.

Style, fitness, and a lack of threat

The biggest complaint here is the football itself: dull, tepid, too much sideways passing, not enough tempo. Whether that’s what Arne Slot “demands” or just where the team is right now, the end result looks the same to the eye. We’re not hurting sides often enough, and we’re not creating that feeling of chaos that good Liverpool teams live off.

And when the legs don’t look right, everything suffers. Pressing becomes half a press. Transitions become slow jogs. Attacks become safe recycling. If the squad looks short of sharpness, you can’t play with aggression, and if you can’t play with aggression, you end up hoping moments go your way rather than forcing them.

Nine unbeaten can buy you time, no doubt. But time should be used to build something you can recognise. Right now, the argument is that the run is masking a side that still doesn’t look like it knows how to dominate matches.

Written by kimuraking.tdeh: 13 January 2026