Slow build is dulling Liverpool’s edge

I’m not buying the idea that Liverpool are “stopping the rot”. If anything, it feels like it’s setting in deeper, because the symptoms are the same every week: slow build-up, less intensity off the ball, and a side that looks a bit too easy to play through when the heat gets turned up.

That’s the bit that worries me most. When other teams press us properly, we don’t look sharp enough to fight our way out of it. We look a touch frail, second to too many loose balls, and suddenly the whole thing becomes a battle we’re not really dressed for. It’s not just about a pass going astray. It’s about what happens after it. Where’s the swarm? Where’s the snap? Where’s the sense that we’re the ones dictating the tone?

The press and the pace used to be the point

Liverpool at our best were never about strolling into shape and waiting for the perfect moment. We were aggressive. We made teams feel rushed. We turned transitions into chances, and we turned the crowd into a weapon.

Now it can feel like we’re choosing control over threat, but without actually controlling anything. We recycle it, we go side to side, we take the temperature out of the game, and then we act surprised when the opposition grow into it. Slow football can work if your spacing is perfect and your tempo changes are ruthless. But if it’s just slow for the sake of it, you end up making life easier for the team defending.

It’s not only about who we sign

I actually think the signings were good, broadly speaking, and I’m not even trying to pin it all on individuals. I’ll be honest, I don’t personally rate Isak as the answer, but this isn’t mainly a shopping-list problem anyway.

A lot of the constant talk about what we “need” comes from the fact we’ve tried to change the way we play into something that doesn’t really suit the majority of the squad. Of course better players can improve you. They always can. But if the approach is wrong, you end up buying your way out of issues you created in the first place.

Fitness, mentality, and the fear of becoming passive

The other thing that doesn’t get said enough: the style affects the legs. If you take the intensity out, you don’t magically become fresher. You can actually lose that hard edge, the one that makes you win your duels and get there first when it matters.

And that ties into mentality. Winning sides have an identity. They know what they are. If we abandon everything that made us successful and exciting to watch, then what’s left when the game turns messy?

Integrating new lads matters, obviously. But persisting with this slow play, when it keeps leaving us vulnerable, feels like doubling down on the wrong lesson. Truth is, I’d rather see us go back to being hard to play against, even if it’s not perfect straight away.

Written by snugglepool: 7 January 2026