Arne Slot saying we’re getting closer to the team he wants us to be is one of those quotes that sounds sensible in isolation. But watching this Liverpool at times, it’s hard not to feel like we’ve swapped something properly sharp for something a bit meek. Not every week, not every half, but often enough that it sticks in the throat.
We used to be a side that played with that heavy-metal edge: press with intent, attack with purpose, and carry ourselves like we expected to win the physical battle as well as the football one. Now the vibe can be slow, a bit passive, and when it gets scrappy we don’t always look like “mentality monsters”. The worst moments are when we look like we’re waiting for the game to happen to us.
Where’s the bite gone?
The big frustration is how easily we can get bullied, even in games where the opposition are down to ten men, or even nine. That should be the cue to squeeze the pitch, camp in their half, keep the tempo up and turn it into siege football. Instead, we can end up looking careful, stretched, and oddly vulnerable to basic direct balls and second phases.
That’s where the “press fluidity” talk becomes a sore point. If the press isn’t joined up, you don’t pin teams in. And if you don’t pin teams in, you invite exactly the kind of chaos that gets your centre-backs dragged into fights they shouldn’t be having.
The simple release ball that isn’t there
Part of it is structural. When we’re under pressure, you need an outlet. You need someone high enough to occupy defenders, win a foul, or at least make the opposition think twice about sending their big lads into our box for every set-piece and long throw.
The suggestion of using Ekitike on the halfway line as a release makes sense in that basic football way. Not as a magic fix, just as a bit of common sense: give the defenders something to defend, and you buy your midfield a breather. It’s the sort of tweak you expect to see when a game’s turning ugly.
Form, recruitment, and the myth-making
There’s also this feeling that last season’s level was held together by a run of players hitting top form at the same time: Mohamed Salah, Mac Allister, Gravenberch, Van Dijk, Luis Díaz. When the standard drops even slightly, it exposes everything underneath. And when Konaté isn’t at his best, the whole back line looks a step slower and a lot more frantic.
Then you get into the bigger gripe: recruitment. If you believe the club have “mostly missed” in the market, you inevitably start pointing fingers at Hughes and Edwards. And once you’re in that headspace, it’s very easy to start rewriting history too, giving all the credit to the true difference-makers of the Klopp era, like Dr Ian Graham and Jürgen Klopp.
The truth is Liverpool don’t need grand myths right now. They need a side that looks like it knows who it is again.
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