Not Decimated: Just Liverpool Getting On With It

There’s a point where “context” turns into excuse-making, and I think some of the chat around Liverpool lately has drifted into that territory. We can all see we’ve had bumps and bruises, but not everything gets to go in the injury column, and not every decent opponent automatically equals a problem we “couldn’t handle”.

Take the basics first. A suspension is a suspension. If Conor Bradley’s missing because he’s banned, that’s not the same as being injured, and it matters when you’re judging how stretched a squad really is. Same goes for players who are actually out there playing. If someone’s in the XI and getting through their work, it’s hard to sell it as “we’re missing them”.

Injuries are real, but “decimated” is doing too much

Of course Liverpool pick up injuries, every side does across a season, especially with the pace the Premier League demands. But “decimated” is the sort of word you use when you’re scraping names off the academy list and sticking square pegs everywhere. If we’ve got a few knocks, plus someone like Endo unavailable, that’s an issue to manage, not a reason to act like the sky’s falling in.

It’s also a bit of a disservice to the lads who step in and do a job. We’ve seen plenty of seasons where the group’s had to shuffle, adapt, and still find a way to win. That’s football, and it’s part of what separates contenders from everyone else.

Brighton: scoreline still matters

The Brighton example is the one that really gets me. People will tell you we “couldn’t handle” them, as if we were hanging on for dear life and hoping for the best. But if you beat a good side 2-0, you’ve handled them. You don’t fluke your way through a clean win without doing a lot right, even if there are moments you’d tidy up on a rewatch.

And that’s where it splits into two types of supporters. Some love going back over everything, pausing clips, drawing conclusions from patterns and passages. Fair enough. Others just watch the match in real time, take it for what it is, and judge the biggest truths: goals, control, big moments, and whether you actually got over the line.

Watching versus analysing: both can be true

Truth is, you don’t need a full breakdown to understand a result. You can respect analysis without letting it override the obvious. If the end product is Liverpool winning comfortably, it’s OK to say: we were fine. Not perfect, not bulletproof, but fine.

Sometimes the simplest read is the right one. We weren’t “unable to cope”. We won. And in this league, that’s never something to sneer at.

Written by Rigsby: 17 December 2025