Part 1 : Liverpool’s 25/26 Struggles Explained

When Arne Slot lifted the Premier League trophy in his first season, it felt like Liverpool had found the perfect successor to Klopp, a manager who brought structure without killing intensity, control without losing chaos. Fast-forward to this season, they started well, barely and continued to win games by the skin of their teeth until it all caught up to them, and that energy just seemed tofade. The same system that looked fluid last season now feels rigid and effective. The goals have dried up, the press looks disjointed, and the aura that carried them through tight games has slipped.

No one expected a second title to come easy but that was most likely before Liverpool broke the Premier League transfer record twice in one window with the signing of 125 million pound Alexander Isak from Newcastle and 116.5 million pound Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen and they had earlier signed Hugo Ekitike from Eintracht Frankfurt for a fee of 79 million pounds. These huge signings came with lofty expectations and at this rate, those expectations are not going to be met.

The new signings haven’t fully adapted, Slot’s constantly changing his system as a result of this slow adaptation and it’s affecting Liverpool’s star man Mo Salah who has practically had zero good matches this season, the defense that was by and large formidable last season now looks vulnerable and the loss of Trent Alexander-Arnold has chipped a huge block of creativity off Liverpool. Liverpool are not bad, at least not yet, they’re just off but in the Premier League with Arsenal and perhaps even Manchester City with Erling Haaland in this form, “off” is all it takes to fall behind and they’ve been usurped by Arsenal at the top of the table.

Last season’s title run had balance, the system made sense, and every player fit their role. Of this season’s new arrivals, Jeremie Frimpong, Hugo Ekitike, Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz, and Milos Kerkez, only Ekitike has shown any sustained form of quality and although the rest have all shown flashes of quality, none of them has fully clicked.

Wirtz, one of Europe’s brightest attacking midfielders before his arrival, looks far off the pace of the premier league, it currently looks like the league is a little too intense for him and it has led to multiple rushed and often unfruitful decisions in the final third, be it in passing or shooting. For Isak, it might be a lack of match fitness but he has not shown the quality we all know from watching him during his time at Newcastle that he possesses. He has shown his clever movement and silky touches but he’s nowhere near as involved as we’re familiar with and certainly not enough to impose himself. He looks isolated in matches where Liverpool fail to control the tempo.

With Kerkez, it’s looking like the move from Bournemouth to Liverpool is a step too big for him, he’s usually so solid both going forward and in defense but his awareness has looked off this season and he’s hardly getting into those positions where he can whip a cross into the box as we know he likes. These aren’t bad players, however, they’re just adapting to a new, demanding setup.

But perhaps the players aren’t all to blame, the setup from Arne Slot this season has been questionable to say the least. Last season Liverpool pressed high and effectively, they defended transitions much better, and dominated games with control and aggression. This season, the system looks caught between versions of itself. It doesn’t help Slot as well that he’s trying to fit in too many profiles at once with the new signings, something that is greatly affecting Mo Salah who had a record breaking 24/25 season.

This season, Salah is being used as a touchline winger stretching the pitch rather than cutting inside like he used to. It’s taken away what made him dangerous, that inside-forward movement into half-spaces where he could combine with the midfielders or striker to create a chance or finish one himself. Instead of driving at defenders, he’s been isolated against full-backs with little room to work. The drop in output isn’t purely on him; it’s on the setup that’s dulled his influence and as a consequence, he has been kept very quiet in just about all the games he has played this season even in the few where he scored or got an assist. Wirtz has also played a part in the reduction of Salah’s touches, he has played in the left half space, right half space and been given the license to drift centrally, further limiting Salah’s influence and it perhaps wouldn’t be a problem if Wirtz himself wasn’t misplacing passes and misfiring shots.

In Isak and Ekitike, we have forwards who like to drop deep to connect play, touch heavy strikers that like to be involved in the match as much as possible but Isak in particular has looked isolated in majority of the matches he has played, Ekitike has at least gotten a few goals but it’s an open secret that the starter is Isak. It looks like in trying to make everyone fit, the collective balance has suffered. The press triggers are inconsistent, the passing scheme is predictable, and the buildup is not as fluid as it should be. Possession without penetration has been the case in their matches, especially in their last 3 matches, matches that were all lost.