Transition seasons are meant to be messy. Players go out, players come in, and you squint at the new pieces hoping they add up to something better. The frustrating bit isn’t that Liverpool aren’t instantly perfect again, it’s that the direction can feel a little hazy when results aren’t backing up the manager’s plan.

A lot changed in a short space of time. You can argue plenty of the incomings looked like upgrades in their own right, even if right-back is the one position where replacing a unicorn like Trent was always going to feel impossible. So yes, there’s context. But context doesn’t stop you asking the obvious supporter question: what are we trying to be?

Identity matters more than the league table some weeks

I’m not sat here expecting a title parade every May. Most of us aren’t, if we’re being honest. What I do want, even in the bumpy spells, is a clear identity. Something you can point to and say, “Right, that’s us.”

Progress can look like better structure, clearer patterns, and the sense that players understand their jobs without everything being forced. And if you can fold in minutes for youth along the way, even better. Liverpool at their best have never been a club that waits politely for the future to arrive.

Control football only convinces when it bites

Arne Slot clearly believes in control. Keeping the ball, managing moments, limiting chaos. It’s a sensible idea, and you can see why a coach would want that in the Premier League, where games swing on tiny lapses.

The problem is simple: that style gets a lot more love when you’re winning. When you’re not, it can feel like control for control’s sake, a handbrake turn that never quite becomes acceleration. Fans will forgive a lot if the team looks alive. If it doesn’t, the questions start coming quickly.

Fun, trophies, and the uncomfortable truth

Truth is, supporters want different things. Some will always take a scruffy 1-0 and a medal. Others, and I’m in this camp, still remember certain seasons because of how they felt, not just what they delivered. That near-quadruple year sticks in the mind because Liverpool were electric, especially early on. It was relentless, it was bold, it was a bit mad at times. And it was brilliant.

So when the football turns cautious and the wins don’t arrive, you start to wonder what the payoff is meant to be. I want Slot to succeed, genuinely. But right now it feels like he might need to tweak something, and quickly, to make the idea land with the crowd as well as the players.

We all want what’s best for the club. We just don’t all agree on what “best” looks like on a Saturday afternoon.

Written by thekoparmy: 14 January 2026

Tags: tactics efl