Every now and then, as a fan base, we probably do need to take a step back. Replacing a figure like Jürgen Klopp was never going to be tidy, never mind seamless. He wasn’t just a coach, he was the mood in the stadium, the belief when games went a bit weird, the fella you trusted to find a way.

So in that sense, perspective matters. If you’d asked most Liverpool supporters the day Klopp walked out the door whether they’d take a 1st and a 4th place finish across the next two seasons, plenty would have snapped your hand off. It’s not lowering standards, it’s acknowledging what a handover like that usually looks like elsewhere. Chaos, drift, years of rebuilding.

The bits that are fair… and the bits that aren’t

But you can hold two thoughts at once. You can respect how hard the job is while still being disappointed by what you’re watching week to week under Arne Slot. That’s where I’m at with it. There are things that feel like they should be fixable, and quickly.

Set pieces, for one. It’s been abysmal, and it’s not just “one of those things”. Set pieces are organisation, repetition, accountability. If we’re regularly looking shaky from dead balls, that points back to the staff as much as the players. Same with the way we seem to fade late on. After about 75 minutes in a lot of games, we look a yard slower than the opposition. That isn’t just bad luck either.

Winning, but not convincing

The last couple of games are a good example of why fans are uneasy. Yes, we won, and in this league you never turn your nose up at three points. But performance-wise it’s been disappointing, and it felt like we got away with it against sides that were already in poor form themselves.

That’s the worry: when you’re not playing well, you’re living on the edge. You start waiting for the bad run rather than expecting the next step forward. And once that doubt creeps in, it spreads quickly, especially when you’ve seen Liverpool at their best.

If not Slot, then who?

Then there’s the uncomfortable question people keep circling back to: if it isn’t Slot, who is it? Right now, there’s nobody obvious. No standout name that feels like a clean, guaranteed upgrade. Maybe that changes by the summer, maybe it doesn’t.

Truth is, that uncertainty is part of why this season feels so loaded. We want progress, we want clarity, and we want a team that looks properly conditioned and well-drilled. That doesn’t feel like asking for the moon. It feels like the basics.

Written by Digger10: 2 January 2026

Tags: efl match-review injury