Liverpool banter 4

20 Oct 2025 10:35:51
I honestly don’t even know what to think anymore. Why are we struggling so badly? What’s really going wrong here? I still back Slot, I genuinely love the man and everything he brought when he first came in. He won us the league in his debut season and completely silenced the doubts most of us had when he arrived. But if this continues, we all know how these things tend to go, and that’s the worrying part. Before he joined, I was genuinely concerned, I’d never heard of him, yet he came in and made us believe again. Now we’re back in that uncertain territory, hoping he figures it out before things unravel any further.

What keeps me optimistic is the quality we’ve got in the squad. We’re talking about an incredible group of young men who are capable of being at the top of every competition. The talent is there, the hunger should be there, but something’s clearly not clicking. Is there something going on behind the scenes? Are they not fully buying into Slot’s methods anymore? Is it still the emotional hangover from losing Jota? Or are we simply struggling tactically, too much experimentation, too much pressure, not enough balance? The questions feel endless and the answers, right now, aren’t clear.

We look disjointed, not necessarily lacking effort, but lacking rhythm and conviction. The intensity that used to define us just isn’t there. We’ve gone from a side that could suffocate opponents to one that seems hesitant, second guessing itself at key moments. you can’t even pin it all on individuals, it feels deeper than that. Whether it’s fatigue, mentality, or cohesion, something fundamental isn’t working.

I still believe Slot can turn it around, he’s proven his quality before, but this needs addressing quickly. Confidence is fragile, and once that goes, even great squads can look ordinary. The players need to respond, Slot needs to adapt, and we as fans need to hold our nerve. But yeah, after losing to them, it’s hard not to ask ourselves, what’s really going on?

20 Oct 2025 12:14:47
Well put Salah. I think the frustration at the moment comes from most people expecting a reaction from team against United and a huge improvement in our play which did not happen.
I know we hit the post countless times etc but even if we’d have won, by playing the way we did, it still would have felt that things aren’t right on the field.
I hope Slot can turn it around.

20 Oct 2025 13:16:05
Salah, you make very good points. I think that the solutions to your questions can be found in your same comment. We look disjointed, uncomfortable and weak is cos whatever it is we are doing tactically, put the players and team in this predicament.

Forget the Utd game for a second, can you tell me what we have been actually trying to do over the past 5/ 6 games, tactically, our shape in/ out of possession, in off. / def. transition? Cos to me, nobody has any idea what their doing, manager included. Over to you, sir.

20 Oct 2025 13:34:26
Just seems we are missing the midfield solidity of last season

If MacAllister not fit then bring him on the last 20-30 mins of games to help, same approach with Isak - midfield of Szobs and Grav as the two with Wirtz as the 10

Salah is woefully out of form, I'd have him on the bench and start Chiesa, 1. It would hopefully get the reaction from Salah you want 2. Chiesa has looked very good when he has played

Think we will rotate the fbs as and when but play Szobs in that midfield role - a frontline of Gakpo, Wirtz, Chiesa and Ekitike would be dangerous, then with Isak and Salah to come on too? Be frightening.

But Slot needs to get that midfield sorted, teams are easily walking through it.

20 Oct 2025 14:56:40
I’m blaming it on you Salah!
I think Salah has been carrying us for a decade. He was on a slow decline when Klopp was coming to the end. Last season he got his second wind, his final huge push to get a new deal. He was superb and deserved that deal but since the deal he has retreated again and so has our form.

He’s our talisman, he’s our attacking heartbeat.
We need to find another and that transition period is a difficult one to navigate.

20 Oct 2025 15:49:28
Lads it is not like we have not lost 3 league games on the bounce 2023 under Jurgen we lost three and were knocked out in last 16 in champions league. This happens players are not machines though uefa and fifa think they are. keep your heads up reds i know it hurts but we have to support the manager and the players so they come through this blimp
YNWA.

20 Oct 2025 09:07:10
I must admit, I did feel we would initially struggle this season, with so many changes to the team, and some to the backroom staff too. It usually happens to teams when they bring in loads of players even without the trauma of a good team mate getting killed.

Look at Chelsea last year, loads of new players and couldn't win an argument.

We are going through a phase like City did last year too, but how things have changed for them this time around.

There has been some mention somewhere about FSG trying to tie Slot down to a longer contract, but I think it would be better to hang fire on this right now.

I think, and hope, results will improve for us once everyone is properly settled, but only time will tell.

20 Oct 2025 10:19:21
There’s struggling, then there’s not having one Decent performance all season mate.

It’s bad this.

20 Oct 2025 10:26:27
Surely the game against arsenal was a decent performance? Atletico we were good too, despite letting in two freak goals.

20 Oct 2025 10:48:43
Clearly, there is no middle ground, is there PB?

I like KBL, always knew we would have teething issues with all that has happened and the tragedy that befell the steam, fans and the club and I think many of our fan base looking at the summer critically accepted this as a key topic going in.

What I (and many who still believe in Slot) did not anticipate was for the manager to start overthinking things, over-tinkering, playing square pegs in round holes, playing a way that does not suit the system. I think this is where the frustration comes from. Really frustrated indeed.

20 Oct 2025 11:12:40
PatrikBurgher, Other than Bournemouth on the opening day of the season we've won or lost every other game by a 1 goal margin.

We're not playing as horrendously as some are making out because we're not getting battered, but we're just not winning games comfortably, and that's caught up with us now, losing 4 games in a row.

I think we've played well in passages within games, but we have little to no control of the tempo and we're too easy to carve open.

The argument that we're in transition only holds up if the performances are inconsistent. However, they're not. They're consistently poor by our standards.

20 Oct 2025 11:24:27
Most people, not just Arsenal fans, will agree that your performance against Arsenal wasn't so much a decent performance from yourselves, but rather a timid approach to the fixture by Arsenal.

20 Oct 2025 11:30:50
LFC8, I agree in part, because we have played well in parts of most games so far. The problem is we need to play well for all the game time not just in one half of each game. It's not as good as it could be that's true.

20 Oct 2025 11:52:56
I mean like a decent 3-0 win where we look comfortable and have given someone a beating the whole game. Should be standard from the champions lads, we should’ve done that by now, no excuses for at least 1 of those games.

20 Oct 2025 11:58:42
Mamardashvilli, Kerkez and Isak started yesterday that’s only 3 new players. Most teams in the league play 3 or more new players every year.

20 Oct 2025 12:00:51
There seems to be an obsession with low blocks and set-pieces, to the point where we're throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

We have fullbacks that can bomb, we have 3 forwards who are over 6'3, 4 midfielders that have great long range striking abilities and two 6'4 centrebacks.

We need to stop obsessing over creating a new magical system for how the whole league is setting up against us.

20 Oct 2025 10:30:17
At least we see energy from Chelsea even though there is no cohesion or shape. But we don't have even energy!

20 Oct 2025 13:24:42
MKS, you're my guy BUT Im going to disagree with you here. We are playing as horrendously as you see us and getting battered in terms of actual play cos we don't press, don't harry, no intensity and slow ball movement. Go watch that first half vs Palace and tell we we weren't getting the lights punched out of us.

Also, you think Utd played well? Cos I didn't. They are still as poor as you have seen them play for the last Year or more. Yet we made them look competent despite having no legs in midfield, slow defenders and couldn't muster a shot on target for the whole second half.

Us? We didn't create a single clear cut chance chance in the second half from when Gakpo hit the post till he equalised. Nah, it's as bad and last night's performance where Szobo and Macca were standing next to Isak (Wait, what? ) and with Grav going to pick up the ball from deep hence leaving a doughnut in the centre circle. For what? Only Slot can answer that. Cheers, man.

20 Oct 2025 14:14:29
Well RSharpe, a lot of our poor performances this year have to do with the timid and passive approach to the games we've been playing as well, especially in the first half of games. Also, Arsenal are timid by default and live and die by set pieces and not conceding goals. They didn't manage to do anything against us on set pieces. So what say you, Arsenal fan?

20 Oct 2025 17:24:46
Patrik, the difference here being that our approach to all other games, bar the ones against you and City, did not have us approach it timidly. Our approach made you look decent.

You go on about us being reliant on set pieces, but that's just one aspect of our game. It could be said that Liverpool are completely reliant on Salah, and without him, last season's trophy would have ended up being won by someone else.

But I'm not going to say that. You played to your strengths and finished the campaign ahead of the rest. But these things come home to roost. Without Salah firing like he did last season, you lot are in meltdown.

Arsenal are a lot more than their set pieces. If you can't see that, you're either very short sighted, very naive, or a wee bit jaded.

20 Oct 2025 17:56:50
Most of your goals have come this season from set pieces. Am I making that up? 10 goals out of 15. Have you been keeping track?

20 Oct 2025 18:48:47
Have you seen me deny that? All I'm saying is using that to suggest that we're not a good side could easily be flipped to suggesting that Liverpool are pretty much a bad side without Salah. But no one is saying that. Because even though you relied on him to win a lot of your games last season, people appreciate that there's more to your side than just Salah.

20 Oct 2025 08:31:44
4 losses and the messiah is now the issue not the players?
Walk tall like a mountain when your winning then explode like a volcano when you loose. I was just happy to see a great game tbh. Yes the win is great for us but ill show some class and won't berate the players who get paid thousands to turn up and fall.

Who knows maybe next year

It be UTD saying its our year lol

Anyway peace out.

20 Oct 2025 08:51:42
Don’t think that the general views on here are what most normal fans are thinking reddevil. This is a place for the great unwashed to have their daily dose of therapeutic team bashing.

Those of us with any sense, humility and idea about the game and its nuances are still confident we’ll come good.

You guys got a bit lucky we didn’t have our finishing boots on and took advantage of some poor defending. Fair play. We’ve got no choice but to take it on the chin and move on.

20 Oct 2025 09:13:46
I think people are losing their heads with Slot because of two fundamental problems. 1) He is picking players who are not playing very well. 2) Our midfielders are being told to play like strikers.

We hadn't lost a game until he started dropping Wirtz and Ekitike. With those two on the pitch together we look dangerous. The players who came in for them (Mac Allister and Isak) don't look sharp at all. Salah also does not deserve his place in the team, so Frimpong and Chiesa should be given more chances to start on the right.

Onto the other point, what is going on with our midfield set up? Yesterday we were basically playing a 4-1-5 and this has been a feature since Macca came into the team, as Wirtz is intelligent enough to come looking for the ball. Mac Allister and Szoboszlai were so bloody high up (literally alongside the front 3) that we weren't capitalising on the gaping hole Fernandes and Casemiro left in the middle of the park. After Wirtz and Jones came on it changed the game because both of them came deeper and actually stood in the space. Then both of them turned and drove us forward by running past their non-existent midfield. It was too little too late though.

I am not going to call for the managers head when we're 4th in October and only 4 points off the top, but this next week is huge. We simply have to beat Frankfurt and Brentford. If we don't, I'm not sure Slot will see Christmas. The Jota incident is no doubt weighing heavy on a few of the players and a slow start was to be expected. Grief affects everyone differently. But what it doesn't explain is the tactical decisions from Slot or the baffling team selections.

As a side note, I've hammered Konate all season, so I should praise him when it's earned. He was excellent yesterday and carried the team defensively.

20 Oct 2025 09:46:43
The great unwashed ey. Can you see us over your nose robbo?

20 Oct 2025 09:47:12
Same with Jones, gets a bit of flack and rightly so but made a massive difference when he came on. He also tried to stir an almost silent Kop into supporting the team more.

20 Oct 2025 09:52:35
I back Slot and the process

I still think it’s odd to make subs where we end of up Endo and Jones as our 6/ 8…. or like today’s game we end up with Jones and Wirtz as our 6/ 8.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen an elite team make changes in a game that compromises so many key positions on the pitch in order to get as many players forward as possible

It makes me think Slot is chasing results. I’d much prefer attention to performance especially as we’re a new team and trying to build chemistry.

20 Oct 2025 10:14:16
Sorry but Konate was marking Maguire for the last goal.
Not strong enough in the air I’m afraid. A lob cross to the back post for the “slower than a glacier” Maguire should not result in a free header.
Konate is not good enough.

20 Oct 2025 10:23:08
Robbo - the things that really irritates me is that Salah and Mac Allister have capable replacements that are never given the chance. Every game I watch, I know that Mac Allister is going to play poorly and be replaced by Jones around the hour mark who always seems to make much more of an impact. Every game, Salah does absolutely nothing. Every time Chiesa plays, he makes an impact.

In defence I can forgive Slot to some degree (purely looking at selections, not tactics here) because there is no replacement for Konate or Virgil (I'm not sure on throwing Gomez in, personally) .

There are things a blind man can see but every game, Slot does the same thing and I know what's going to happen and lots of us do. It's the sheer bloody mindedness of Slot that is really starting to grate.

20 Oct 2025 10:26:56
My issue with Slot is that I don't think he knows how to play each player.

Let's take yesterday for example. From the few things I know from ManU is that they play counter attacks and that they literally do not have a midfield (yesterday was not the exception) .

If Liverpool decides to play aggresively, he should have played the same tactics as yesterday BUT playing Wirtz instead of Macca and playing Ekitike instead of Isak to exploit the midfield that everyone should know ManU do not have.

If you play more conservative, worrying about counters, then you put the same lineup except for Isak, since Ekitike can press better than Isak and could have been better alongside Szobo on the tip BUT also clearly instruct Macca to hold the double pivot to protect the backline.

Nonetheless, the issue is not only Slot. The players carry a lot of blame too. How come the player that on the ground can get up and just outrun everyone to score? Kerkez has played bad, but yesterday literally he was overload and didn't have any help (i don't know if it was by design) . Van Dijk is not playing at the level he is used to, and I don't if he is affected by Kerkez or viceversa.

Finally, can the team please stop conceding goals from set pieces or follow ups from those set pieces? Now, I'm always expecting the worst whenever there is a set piece against us and I'm tired of it.

20 Oct 2025 10:46:17
Leave it out Robbo. Everybody is entitled to their opinion. What makes you a fountain of wisdom all of a sudden?
Nuances of football? Give me a break.

20 Oct 2025 11:00:33
@Reddevilfan, you thought that was a great game? Maybe cos you won so I can understand that. For me, that was not a great game. Utd are were poor (a midfield with no pace and no legs, for starters) BUT we played so much crap (no press, no midfield shape on/ off the ball) that we made Utd look competent at best, something they most definitely are not. If either team played a team that knew what it was doing, we both get smoked as both teams have been already. That's why our perf. (forget the result) was even more awful than it looks.

As for Slot, Im not Slot out in any way shape or form and won't be. However, he is doing way too many things that people simply do not understand. A manager can do something I disagree with while at the same time, understanding why he did it. That is not what is happening here and it is very painful to watch.

20 Oct 2025 10:31:06
Albert Einstein say Insanity is doing the same thing while expecting different result.

20 Oct 2025 12:49:32
I just don’t understand how all of you can go from the elation of winning the league, then the further elation of the unbelievable transfer window, then 5 wins in a row, beating Arsenal at home etc etc, to the over the top negativity and drivel I’m seeing on this site.

It’s disappointing I get it, nobody likes losing especially at home and especially at home to that lot but it happens. It shouldn’t but it does.

This 4 game run has been a horrible experience for all of us but does it warrant going from ‘it’s so good to be a Liverpool fan right now’ to ‘Slot doesn’t know what he’s doing and should be sacked, Salah should be dropped forever, it’s all doom and gloom, we’ll be lucky to get top 6?’

Not for me. I choose life.

20 Oct 2025 08:28:19
Does Slot have the guts to make the big decisions, like dropping Salah and Isak. Or can he only haul off 19 year olds at half time?

The team is lacking cohesion and we are so porous we look like we could concede whenever we are attacked. Cannot believe this is all down to GvB but he is the key difference in the management setup.

If we are going to play so open we need Gravenberch/ Jones or Endo to solidify midfield and stop us getting run through.

Van Dijk needs to show some fight, strolling around looking uber cool is pointless when you're getting beat every week. Time to be a captain, start from kick off. Not just reactionary.

20 Oct 2025 08:53:20
Van Dijk is an issue. His leadership skills are, at times, pathetic. I don’t give a damn if these are his mates, most of them need a massive kick up the backside to regain their focus. Shout, yell, and direct people with some aggression instead of standing around trying to ‘aura farm’ in the middle of game - he’s a good 5-10 years older and more experienced than the others, and should be leading them through matches.
This doesn’t go into his defending.

20 Oct 2025 10:29:00
Virg has been our best player up until yesterday. Don't know what you're talking about atall lowe. Virg doesn't fancy kerkez atall. It's glaringly obvious he thinks he's babysitting him on the pitch. Kerkez has to be supported because he's young like bradley but kerkez has looked a very poor buy.

20 Oct 2025 11:05:27
"Does Slot have the guts to make the big decisions, like dropping Salah and Isak. Or can he only haul off 19 year olds at half time? "


I've been asking the same question myself. It's all well and good picking on Elliott, Quansah and Chiesa saying this or that about them not being of the "standard" when you're winning.

Now when you're losing and those who are of the "standard" are the ones letting you down way more while the Jones's and Chiesa's of the world are outplaying them and showing up everytime they are called upon, it's a diff. kettle of fish, isn't it?

20 Oct 2025 11:06:46
Batman - I’m not second-guessing Virgil as a player. I think he’s world class. But I don’t like things I see from him as a captain. Captains need to lead by example, sure, but they also need to be a jerk at times because the team aren’t doing what they need to.

20 Oct 2025 11:41:58
I mean, hendo shouted a lot at people in the darkest period of the klopp reign, can't say it helped a lot when it was something deeper and more systematic at fault for the performances.

20 Oct 2025 14:20:57
When was the last time Chiesa played 90 minutes?

20 Oct 2025 07:08:54
What makes it worse for me is slab head scored the winner! Can't stand him 😠.

20 Oct 2025 09:57:02
I'm in total agreement with you on that mate here's hoping when slashed goes to court in Greece the judge is a fan of the reds on not the devil's 11 was taking stick in at work today but shut them allup by asking who they play this week answer nobody still we have wed to get yesterday of our systems anyone want to bet that Hugo scores if played?

20 Oct 2025 11:06:05
Hunter64, is that court case in Greece still a thing?

20 Oct 2025 06:36:32
For me . I want the whole coaching and staff to change

It's clear there's nothing going on behind the scenes that's making the team BETTER . With now even more quality
We look worse and worse

And in don't even recognise the way we play or what their trying to do .

Look how long United have stuck with Amorim . it's clear lfc will stick with slot and he is going to continue this deluded belief . we are unlucky and by the next two weeks
Liverpool will be out of the league race . and falling down the league table in Europe and trying to qualify to get to the second round


I don't think slot is the type to change ideas.

20 Oct 2025 07:56:35
Great idea redrebel. Sack them! Sack them all! It’s the only way!

And cancel Christmas.

20 Oct 2025 08:30:17
Xmas we can keep

I am just convinced if we don’t the season
Will collapse by December
Out of two major trophies

Sometimes in life u have to make the big calls.

20 Oct 2025 09:55:49
Big calls like sacking Nuno and signing Ange?
Big calls like having 10 managers in 10 years?

I tend to agree about the risk that Slot is stubborn and won’t change his ways. But that’s not a reason for pen pushers to make a change.

Jumping ship is for losers.

20 Oct 2025 11:07:11
Faith, you ain't never lied.