Slot’s football is strangling this squad

I’m at the point where I’d take almost any reset just to stop watching this. Not because I’m desperate for a shiny new name, but because the football under Arne Slot feels turgid, cautious and, worst of all, pointless when it isn’t even delivering the results.

There’s a version of Liverpool that can be messy and still be exciting, can gamble a bit and still look like itself. This doesn’t. This feels like we’re playing with a handicap, giving the opposition a fair crack when we’ve got better players almost everywhere.

When the tactics become the problem

The frustrating bit is I don’t just think the plan is “not quite working”. I think it’s actively detrimental. You watch it and you can’t escape the feeling we’d be better off picking our best XI, setting a few basic principles, then letting them play with their own brains and instincts.

Because what are we gaining right now? The build-up looks laboured. The identity is fuzzy. We don’t look like we’re building pressure, we look like we’re waiting for permission to attack. And when goals aren’t flowing, all the caution in the world just turns into anxiety.

This squad is too talented for this

People can argue about “world class” labels, but there’s no doubt this is a squad packed with quality. The idea that the likes of Salah, Mac Allister and Virgil have suddenly fallen off a cliff overnight doesn’t wash with me. Players don’t all become poor at the same time. More often, they’re being asked to play in ways that dull what they’re good at.

To be fair, you can see why certain lads still catch the eye, the ones who naturally drift and find pockets, who play with a bit of freedom. But if the system is so rigid that only the “drifters” can look decent, that says something. Liverpool should be enabling our best players, not shackling them.

Weak links don’t excuse everything

Yes, centre-back worries me as an area of weakness, and you always pay for it in this league if you’re soft in key moments. But even if you accept that, it still doesn’t explain the slow tempo, the lack of bite in possession, or how fragile we can look whenever there’s a dead ball to defend.

I’m sick of the excuses, if I’m honest. If this is as good a group as it looks on paper, then it shouldn’t be serving up football that flat. That’s why some of us are already talking about caretakers and interims. Not romance, not nostalgia. Just the desperate need to feel like Liverpool again.

Written by MK Scouser: 15 January 2026