I’ve followed Liverpool since the mid-70s, so I’m not pretending every season has to feel like a parade. You take the good with the bad. But I’ll be honest, the excitement I felt in August was real: champions again, the mood lifted, and talk of pushing Liverpool back where it belongs.

With that comes patience, of course it does. A squad doesn’t just click because you fancy it to. New ideas take time, relationships take time, and a manager needs a proper run at it. I expected a building period. What I didn’t expect was to feel like we’ve stepped away from what seemed to work before.

Where’s the speed in the football?

My biggest gripe isn’t even one result or another. It’s the tempo. Liverpool, to me, has always been at its best when the ball and the players move with purpose. Pass and move. Get the crowd up. Make opponents feel like they’ve got no time to breathe.

Right now it can feel a bit too “on the foot”. Too much standing, too much waiting for the perfect angle, and not enough of that instinctive, aggressive rhythm that turns Anfield into a problem for teams. I’m not asking for reckless football. I’m asking for football with edge.

The fear with a certain ‘Dutch’ bracket

This is where my worry lands. I had a fear, when Arne Slot got the job, that we could drift into that slower, more controlled style you’ve seen at times from certain Dutch managers in England. Not because it’s automatically bad, but because it can blunt the very thing Liverpool historically leans on: intensity.

And that’s why it’s confusing. If a manager has found a formula that looks like it suits the players, why walk away from it? I can respect what Slot has already done, while still asking that question out loud.

Leadership, talent, and what it should look like

Truth is, Liverpool have too much talent to feel like we’re playing within ourselves. There should be leaders, on the touchline and on the pitch, who set the tone and get the best out of a brilliant group. When that happens, you don’t need perfection. You just need momentum.

I watched Sunderland have a proper go at City and it reminded me how much energy matters in football. A ground that believes. Players sprinting like it means something. That’s what I want back: a Liverpool side that looks like it’s hunting, not waiting.

Maybe it’s a phase. Maybe it clicks and we all calm down. But right now, I’m off the fence: if this is the long-term plan, it doesn’t feel like Liverpool.

Written by Tuktuk: 10 January 2026

Tags: efl