Results Are Fine, Performances Arent There Yet

Theres this odd thing happening where some results are being treated like a marker of progress, and I dont really buy it. Not because points dont matter, they obviously do, but because the performances driving those points dont feel like a team steadily getting better. Standards can slip quietly that way, when the table becomes the only argument and the football itself gets waved away.

If Liverpool were playing well, with a clear direction, and it was simply a case of not quite matching the level of City and Arsenal, most of us would accept it. Thats the normal shape of a season in a transition: you can see the patterns forming, you can see the ideas, you can see the team learning. Dropped points are annoying, but they make some sense.

Transition is fine, drifting isnt

The frustration comes when it doesnt feel like were building, it feels like were surviving. You can be inconsistent while still improving, but inconsistency that looks the same every few weeks starts to feel like the ceiling rather than a phase. Thats when people start arguing about whether were meant to be happy with it, and nobody wins that debate.

Truth is, the Premier League doesnt give you breathing space. If your tempo drops, if your counter-press isnt sharp, if your control in midfield comes and goes, you get dragged into those scrappy games where youre relying on moments rather than rhythm. And when youre relying on moments, everything feels thinner than it should.

Managing expectations, without lowering them

At the same time, expectations do need managing. It felt clear early on that we werent likely to be in a proper, sustained title race. That doesnt mean accepting mediocrity, it means being honest about what this season probably is: a fight to be in the Champions League places, maybe right on the edge, maybe just short, maybe just about enough. Thats modern football now. Plenty of good sides collect enough points, but still underperform versus their own standards.

And it could be worse. For a spell it even looked like it might go that way. So I get why some people take any stability they can find. But stability only counts if it turns into something. Otherwise were just normalising the idea that not being great is a positive.

The question Liverpool have to answer

So the real question isnt whether well pick up decent results here and there. Its whether the performances start to match the badge again, whether you can look at the team and say: thats us, thats what were trying to be. Until then, even the good weeks are going to feel a bit uneasy.

Written by KmanLFC92: 9 January 2026