Slot Needs a Clearer Plan, Fast

I’m not going to pretend I’m relaxed about it, because I’m not. Right now, watching Liverpool can feel like watching a side that hasn’t decided what it wants to be. And when that happens, the manager takes the heat first. For me, Arne Slot doesn’t look like the right person so far, mainly because I can’t consistently see a proper plan being carried out.

You can lose a game. You can even have a rough spell. But when it looks like we’re relying on moments rather than patterns, it’s hard not to get frustrated. The biggest worry isn’t one bad performance, it’s the repeated feeling that we don’t create enough, and we don’t control enough.

Creativity feels thin on the pitch

The absence of two of last season’s most creative lads, Diaz and Trent, is massive in terms of invention and variety. Whatever you think of their consistency, they give you something: they force defenders to make decisions, they move the ball forward with purpose, they create angles.

When those kinds of outlets aren’t there, everything becomes a bit samey. The ball goes wide, comes back inside, then gets recycled again. It’s not that keeping it is bad, it’s that the circulation has to lead somewhere. Otherwise you’re just waiting for the opposition to set themselves and say, “Go on then, break us down.”

Salah’s side isn’t clicking and Gakpo looks stuck

On the right, Salah hasn’t built a proper partnership with either Bradley or Frimpong. That matters because Liverpool’s best versions always had relationships down the sides: overlaps, underlaps, little one-twos, runners being found early. If that chemistry isn’t there, Salah ends up isolated and you lose one of your main ways of getting into the box.

And then there’s Gakpo. Truth is, I don’t know what he’s trying to do half the time. It feels like he rarely really commits a defender. He cuts inside, throws in a cross when there’s no one attacking it, or he goes sideways and backwards and the whole move dies. Maybe it’s confidence, maybe it’s instructions, maybe it’s role. Either way, it isn’t working.

Give Rio more minutes, and fix the spine

If Rio is the one young player who actually takes people on and can beat his man, then I’d like to see more of him. Especially if Salah isn’t there, you need someone willing to take responsibility and force the issue. Not every dribble comes off, but at least it stretches the game.

Longer-term, the shopping list feels pretty obvious from this angle: a long-term Salah replacement, two centre-backs because the current group makes too many mistakes, and ideally a proper defensive midfielder too, even if sorting the defence feels more urgent. Until the spine is steadier and the chance creation improves, everything else is just sticking plasters.

And if the club did decide to change the manager? I’d be asking serious questions about what top-level options would even be realistic, because names like Zidane for a year or Inzaghi only make sense if there’s a clear plan behind it. Liverpool can’t afford another reset without direction.

Written by C0ffan: 8 January 2026