I get why some want to aim frustration at Hughes and Edwards, but to me that’s the wrong target. They appointed a manager who, by any reasonable measure, had already shown he could do the job. That part is the easy bit to defend.

The harder bit is what we’re watching now. Because if Liverpool are struggling in the areas that should be automatic at this level, then the spotlight has to swing back onto Arne Slot and his staff. Not out of spite, not because anyone wants to be “anti” him, but because the basics are where standards start.

Pressing that doesn’t bite

When we talk about pressing, it’s not just about running around and looking busy. It’s the timing, the distances between players, the triggers, and the second effort when the first one gets played through. This season it’s felt, far too often, like we press poorly and opponents can play around it without much stress.

And once that happens, everything else suffers. The back line has to defend more space, the midfield ends up chasing, and suddenly you’re not dictating tempo, you’re reacting to it. Liverpool at their best have always looked like a side that makes the other team feel rushed. Lately, it’s been the opposite.

Set pieces: two problems, not one

The set-piece side of it is what really sticks in the throat because it’s so fixable in theory. If you’re a mess defensively and you’re not a threat offensively, that’s a double whammy. You don’t get the cheap goals, and you give away the cheap ones. Over a season, that kind of swing adds up without needing any fancy analysis.

At a club of Liverpool’s stature, those are sessions you drill and re-drill. Organisation. Responsibilities. Who attacks which zone. Who blocks runners. All the unglamorous stuff that wins points.

Fitness and fight are non-negotiable

The most worrying thing for me is the feeling that we don’t look as fit as opponents in the Premier League, and we don’t look like we’re playing with that edge. Desire is a funny one because you can’t measure it, but you know it when you see it. When 50-50s keep going the other way, it becomes a pattern, not bad luck.

Truth is, those are coaching standards. That’s training intensity, selection, messaging, and what gets tolerated. If the squad aren’t matching teams for running, aggression and concentration, the manager has to own it.

I’m not writing Slot off. I genuinely thought we’d hit the jackpot too. But it’s hard not to be disappointed when the simple parts of football, the parts that should be a given, keep letting us down.

And I can’t help but wonder, like others have, whether the off-field situation with his family not moving over to England has taken something out of him. If so, you can understand it on a human level. But Liverpool still need the manager who looked sharper and more driven 12 months ago.

Written by Digger10: 11 January 2026

Tags: efl injury tactics