Results Up, Performances Still Not There

There’s a temptation, when the results start to pick up, to pretend everything else has clicked into place as well. But looking back over the last run of games, it’s hard to shake the feeling Liverpool have improved the outcomes without really fixing the underlying performance.

That’s the bit that nags. Because you can nick points here and there, you can ride your luck, you can benefit from the odd moment, but over a season the level you’re playing at tends to catch up with you. And lately we’ve had too many matches where the football has felt like it’s being forced out of the side rather than flowing naturally.

The games: too many warnings in the details

Take West Ham. They were poor, and yet we still managed to look flat for huge spells, with a first half that never really got going. Sunderland? Another one where we weren’t at it and needed a deflection just to rescue a point.

Then the first Leeds game, where it felt like we had it in our hand and still let it go. Inter was better, fair enough, but even there it came down to a penalty. Brighton was probably the most acceptable of the lot, a decent enough performance without it being anything to write home about.

The Spurs match should have been comfortable once they went down to nine men, but the last ten minutes were as panicky and loose as you’ll see. Wolves felt the same way: another match where we made life hard for ourselves, and it didn’t feel like there was much daylight between the sides on the day. And then Leeds again, where you got that horrible sense we could’ve played another hour and still not scored.

It’s not just points, it’s the level

The point isn’t to moan for the sake of it. It’s that “transition” is supposed to look like a team learning new habits, even if it comes with bumps. What this run has often looked like is a side surviving moments rather than controlling matches.

When you’re regularly clinging on, conceding territory too easily, or struggling to create clear chances, the stress levels go through the roof. It’s also where fitness starts to become part of the conversation. When the legs go late, decision-making goes with it. Pressing gets sloppy. Distances open up. You can see why games start to feel like a slog.

Spend, standards, and what “progress” really means

The frustration lands harder because this isn’t a team built on pennies. The point made is simple: Liverpool have spent huge money assembling a title-winning squad, and compared to that benchmark the numbers cited are stark: 13 points worse off, 17 fewer scored, and 7 more conceded.

You can dress it up however you like, but that doesn’t read as progress. It reads like a side that’s lost its edge and hasn’t found it again yet. Until the performances match the results, the concern isn’t going anywhere.

Written by Wassa-lfc: 9 January 2026