More Liverpool Posts

Liverpool Article 24 Mar 2026
Brighton & Hove Albion v Liverpool A Liverpool Perspective







It is the hope that kills you.



Thankfully then, Slot has managed to kill any hope I had of a decent result every time Liverpool play. Each time you start to think he has managed to hit rock bottom, Arne Slot proves you wrong by making things worse. I did think the performance against Spurs on the previous weekend had to be rock bottom, as it was simply the worst performance I can remember by Liverpool since the Hodgson days. And Hodgson was hampered by being in charge when the club was on the verge of a financial meltdown, stuck with dross players bought on the cheap, rather than top class signings made for huge fees and on massive wages. At least Hodgson's team had a plan, a very defensive plan, but he attempted to organise them defensively and played a low block looking to draw or, with a bit of luck, sneak a win. It was boring, but Slot is managing to make those days seem entertaining!



The defending is a shambolic mess, mostly consisting of Konate running all over the place and being anywhere but where he should be and failing miserably to actually pick up anyone in a dangerous area. If they are not in a dangerous area, such as the halfway line, he spends his time trying to get into their kit alongside them, he is that close. Put them in the penalty box and he suddenly is no longer even aware they exist! Van Dijk is not much better this season, constantly passing a man off to no one and running away from any possibility of having to make any kind of challenge. It is hard to tell if his legs are going or if he is simply suffering due to the lack of fitness the whole team have developed under Slot.



If the defending is bad, then what can I describe the tactics as, without swearing? It is hard to understand how the coaching staff have still not realised that playing the ball slowly around at the back does not work. But then, they also have yet to spot how useless Mac Allister has been all season, so maybe it is not so surprising! Or that giving Gravenberch freedom to get forward is not suiting the strengths of his game and he is playing poorly as well as a result. Or that Konate is a liability. Or that a natural right-back is on the bench to use. They cannot even see that pace and power is incredibly important in the Premier League, particularly in midfield.



The list of problems and things going wrong are enormous right now, while the list of things going right is really down to just 2 things - LFC are still in the FA Cup and UEFA Champions League. There is nothing about the style of play, tactics, player performances etc to get excited about and a battle for top 5 in the Premier League is nothing short of embarrassing after the investment made into a squad that won the league last year. The fact that the manager misses every opportunity to get some decent work in on the training ground, as he instead jets off back to Holland every chance he gets and gives the players some time off, probably goes a long way to explaining a huge part of the problem.



How can you expect to motivate players when you have made no effort to understand the club, develop a relationship with the fans or get to know the city the club is based in? When you are effectively only doing the job on a part-time basis, what chance can you have of gaining an understanding of what the players need to get the best out of them? It should never have been allowed to come to this, that has to placed at the feet of Laurel and Hardy above Slot, who must see that it is not working but do nothing about it. Edwards has absolutely nothing to do with FSG failing to complete the purchase of a second football club, surely he could have put in a bit of time to have a look at what is going wrong and dealing with it? But he has all the decisiveness of my dad trying to choose something in the supermarket (which always ends up in a row if my mother is with him as she gets fed up with his total inability to make a decision of any kind), constantly dithering and doing nothing. The club desperately needs a clearout. Edwards, Hughes and Slot, they all need to be replaced.



Sorry, that ended up in just an anti-Slot rant, apologies. I will stop now, as that is not the intent of this review!









Brighton & Hove Albion





They never had to be that good to win. It was a decent performance by them, but nothing outstanding and still they were the better team by a wide margin. They were fitter, faster, stronger and simply wanted it more. There was no low block either, they came to play football and played it better than Liverpool. Milner in their midfield stood out, according to the stats I have read, actually covered more ground than Liverpool's three in midfield on his own. Not difficult to believe after watching the effort he put in compared to anyone in red.







Liverpool





Mamardashvili - I do not understand why he was bought, there is nothing about the signing that makes sense. He is woefully unsuited to any kind of playing around the ball at the back and is far too slow to come off his line, as well as offering little command of the area. He looks so nervous, which transmits to an already nervy backline and makes it look even more porous. Put him in a team that defends deep and he would be fine, but he is just not suited to being the keeper Liverpool need.





Frimpong - he tried, but he was struggling up against Minteh's pace. He does not have the skill to get past a player and lacked the pace and strength to match up physically with Minteh when defending. He is not an out-and-out right-back anyway, he was always more of a wing-back and this was a time when his lack of defensive nous was shown up.





Konate - there is little wonder he was taken off, he is absolutely abysmal this season, running around like a headless chicken with no communication with anyone. He has no defensive awareness either, he lives in a bubble and has been an absolute disgrace this season. Dog muck would be being kind when talking about this performance. It is like he is 7 years old and has no idea about tactics or positional play. If anyone signs him on a free, they will be massively overpaying for him.





van Dijk - you only really know how good someone is at something when they are going through adversity. What we have found out of van Dijk this season is that he is an abysmal leader. Strutting around the pitch, running away from opponents to avoid having to make a tackle, bollocking other players when you are the one who has made the mistake and standing watching while the keeper is under pressure on the ball is not what is needed. Is it really that difficult to break into a run and make an angle to receive a pass? He seems to think he is too important to break sweat nowadays as I see plenty of other centre-backs sprinting to make a passing angle for their keeper when their team is playing out from the back, just never Virgil. His aura has gone and his attitude has been found wanting too.





Kerkez - very clever bit of work, as well as a lovely finish, to get the goal and was generally playing fairly well. Like his compatriot Szoboszlai, he has been one of a very small number of players whose effort and work rate has been good enough. He did take a while to get going, but he has grown into one of the first names on the team sheet since then, in my opinion. Not perfect by any means, but looks an excellent long term replacement for Robertson.





Mac Allister - how on earth does he not just get a starting berth in the team, but completes 90 minutes almost every week? Is it because he is so anonymous Slot has forgotten he was on the pitch? It is hard to believe Real Madrid have maintained a longstanding interest in such a badly limited player.





Gravenberch - when he sat deep and covered in front of the defence, for most of last season, he was outstanding. Since he has been given more freedom to roam forward, he has looked a very average player, which makes it strange that he was given a big new contract recently. I know his dad told him he should score more goals, but the lad should stop listening to his dad and go back and look at what made him look like a special player. It was not goals! With his passing being so poor, the last thing you want is him to be the player up and around the edge of the opposing box. He needs to be deeper, feeding the better passers.





Gakpo - like Gravenberch, he has been poor this season after a good season last time out. In his case, to me I think he is suffering from the same issue as Salah, no not age but tactics. The tactics are hindering them badly. They want the ball early, so they can attack a defence still trying to get into shape and falling back, rather than set and prepared with cover. That is the main difference with Ngumoha, he gets the ball delivered early, as soon as it is possible to hit him and is able to run at a disorganised defence. Gakpo is a limited player, but give him the ball early and he can get goals and assists.





Wirtz - he needs to have more confidence in his own ability to shoot and not look to pass when he gets in good positions, well not always look to pass anyway. A lot of the time, it does look like he is playing a different game from his team-mates. He is looking for a run, but Liverpool players rarely make them, which makes it difficult for him to do much.





Szoboszlai - probably his worst game of the season, but still arguably the best Liverpool player in the game. Nothing even he could do to cover for so many players playing so badly.





Ekitike - barely got started before picking up an injury and having to be taken off. Bizarre to watch Slot telling him to just get up when he went down, showing absolutely no empathy or fear for his only actual striker.





Jones - replaced the injured Ekitike in a bizarre substitution choice in the 8th minute. A very strange choice to replace the one and only actual striker on the pitch. You would have thought Chiesa was the choice, but for some reason only Slot knows Jones came on instead. It did not seem like the players understood the system afterwards, there was no structure or shape to the team, which allowed Brighton to run through it, almost at will. Even more odd was the decision to move him to right-back when Frimpong came off, to play against a player whose pace and power had been giving Frimpong so many problems. I simply cannot believe that a better option would not have been Ramsay, there is just no way that a midfielder playing out of position is a better right-back than a natural right-back. I am not convinced that Ramsay is particularly good, but I am 100% convinced that he is a better right-back than Jones. I am also sure he would not have been so lazy as to be strolling about fetching the ball for a throw in while the clock is ticking away and the team was losing 2-1. Show some bloody urgency!





Ngumoha - was brought on in the stead of Frimpong in the 63rd minute. His arrival caused a reshuffle and he played on the left, leaving the team lopsided. He did benefit from the team looking to hit him immediately on receiving the ball but, for all his talent, he created almost nothing. The potential is there but the actual is not yet, but then the lad is just 17 and he has plenty of time yet. I do worry about him being overhyped and not realising how much he still needs to learn, so far he has shown nothing like the level of Fowler or Owen at his age, but in a season with so little hope, having a player who actually attacks is refreshing.





Robertson - took the place of the also injured Kerkez in the 76th minute. Looks absolutely finished at this level and his main contribution was to hoof the ball into the stands when presented with a good chance to put in a cross.





Chiesa - came on for Konate in the 76th minute. I have seen people saying he is not good enough, but I have no idea how they can know that when he has never been given a real chance, a run of games to bed in and get his game going. His treatment by Slot has been appalling. The complete mismanagement of the only genuine ready attacking option is astonishing. He should have been on when EKitike got injured but he plays with intensity and attacking intent, rather than passing sideways and backwards like Slot wants, so he will continue to be ignored. No doubt even if Ekitike is still injured after the international break, Chiesa will still be sat on the bench alongside Ramsay.

Liverpool Article 17 Feb 2026
Sunderland v Liverpool A Liverpool Perspective







The biggest issue from a Liverpool perspective is that they were unable to add more goals, despite a dominant performance. In large part down to Sunderland's defending, but also down to their own wastefulness. There were a lot of moments where players dallied, made the wrong choice or simply produced a poor final ball, which could easily have ended up costing them. It was particularly evident how much Sunderland struggled in the first half but they did come out for the second half with a flurry to try and get at Liverpool, but it petered out as Liverpool picked them off with some good breaks and really should have notched more than one goal.



It showed the huge difference in Liverpool's performances when they attack the opposition. Playing it about slowly around the backline really does not suit the players and it just needs to be dropped. This is a team built to beat the opposition by scoring goals, not by boring them to sleep. It is perfect for risky football, for outscoring the opponent, even if it means games finish 4-3. Everything about the team is attacking, which is why it has been such a disaster when it tried to play defensively, hopefully Slot has finally seen the light and will let them off the leash for the rest of the season.







Sunderland





There have been signs of the Mackems running out of steam over the last few weeks, this game was the biggest one yet as they struggled to press with energy and were slow to react meaning Liverpool were usually first to loose balls. To get this far through the season unbeaten at home is huge, especially for a newly promoted side and they are basically already safe from relegation with 12 games left to play. They will be disappointed to not have made a better fist of it, as they were, despite the scoreline only ending as 1-0, clearly second best throughout. I expect Le Bris to be particularly annoyed that they never managed to test out Endo, playing out of position at right-back, enough.



The biggest takeaway for me from Sunderland is just how badly they miss Xhaka, they lack leadership and experience without him there and his return cannot come quickly enough. However, you cannot fail to be impressed by just how well they have done this season so far.







Liverpool





Alisson - Sunderland struggled to test him out much, so he was not really pushed in this game, but when called upon he was there. Looked a bit better on the ball, more like himself in fact.





Endo - did well, there was one instance Angulo turned him inside out, but most of the time he dealt with him well. Extremely unfortunate about his injury, though you have to wonder why his teammates did not tell him to stay down and get treatment. His bravery is well known, but you could see immediately that it was serious and he just needed to stay down and let Gomez get ready to come on. Such a shame for him, he deserves so much better than to pick up a long term injury after finally getting a start. He has never let LFC down and always gives his all, even if he is not the greatest player, his attitude is exceptional and could have been a great help during the bad run at the end of the year. During those periods, you just need a bit of fight and desire and he has both in spades.





Konate - a decent performance, but he was always at risk of a foul being given against him by grappling with Brobbey. Yes, Brobbey was also grappling, but he is in an attacking position, so the risk is worth it, a free kick given away by him is miles away from his own goal, but Konate is near to his goal and any foul is a dangerous one or even a penalty. Also, for such a big guy, he does flop to the ground far too easily under little pressure and then gets up in instalments while complaining to the referee about a non-existent foul.





van Dijk - a good game, defended well and played some of those long raking passes he is famous for. Once Liverpool got through the early couple of minutes, when Sunderland tried to press, there was time and space on the ball and he used it well to move the ball on quickly.





Robertson - with no real winger up against him, he was able to get forward at will and under little real defensive pressure. A good game for him to play in and he produced a couple of good balls.





Mac Allister - there were some better moments from him, but he still did not do enough over the course of the match. It is hard to understand how he keeps a place in the team.





Gravenberch - if he could just figure out how to pass to a teammate, he would be some player.





Gakpo - a much better performance from the Dutch winger. He has been having a poor season, but looked much better with the ball moved forward quickly.





Wirtz - always involved in the play, it is not just his quality on the ball though, it is also his work for the team. He often pops up deep in his own half working back and breaking up attacks or filling in gaps when someone else has got forward.





Salah - looked so much better, so much more like himself, each game he seems to be getting better.





Ekitike - looked tired and in need of a rest. He was still dangerous, but there was a slight drop to his level.





Gomez - replaced the injured Endo in the 69th minute. His extra pace over Endo helped him a lot, with Liverpool mainly controlling the game, it was a mostly comfortable appearance.





Jones - took the place of Gakpo in the 75th minute. Helped to see out the game with his workrate and calmness in possession.





Chiesa - was brought on in the stead of Ekitike in the 88th minute. Too late to really affect the game.

Liverpool Article 10 Feb 2026
Liverpool v Manchester City A Liverpool Perspective







This game was entirely predictable, it is rinse and repeat from Slot. Come out slowly, struggle badly in the first half, second half play much better and have the lion's share of possession and then score, only to sit back, invite them on and lose. It is fast becoming the Slot way. It is difficult to see how he can continue on as Liverpool boss unless he finally sees the light and makes changes to this boring, tedious pass around the back dross that made up the first half and also his tendency to always try and sit back on a one goal lead. It might work to defend if he did not denude the midfield of any kind of defensive solidity in favour of weak technical players. Slot has ideas of how to win, but does not understand how to make it reality and what kind of players are needed to do so.



This match saw him actually use a high press in the second half particularly, but it was just 4 players pushing up while the rest sat off and left space for Citeh to easily play out of trouble. It was the press of a coach that does not understand how a press works, with huge gaping holes and little enthusiasm for the press from midfield and defence. The moment they break that initial press, they are able to easily and quickly advance all the way to the edge of the area before anyone engages again. It is little wonder the team is so open, when the team are not working as one whole together. Any style of defending, from low block to high press, can be effective if applied well, it is just not being applied well.



What I found really annoying is that the players are still struggling with their fitness, which is leading to the bad errors at the end of games. They are simply down to the effects of fatigue, something which should not be happening at this point of the season. It has to be down to lack of fitness, as the players cannot be fatigued, having been given, unbelievably, a few days off this week. Hard to understand why they were given a holiday when they have been playing so poorly and need to work hard on their organisation, as was showed when they were caught out with Szoboszlai playing everyone onside. A few days drilling on holding the line would have stopped that happening. It just seemed like they were given a break so Arne could pop home for a few days, rather than because it was necessary. The way he is going, it will not be long before he will have all the time in the world to spend there.



You also have to ask questions about Slot's match preparation, and I do not mean this as a dig at him jetting off back to Holland when he has the chance, but there is something seriously wrong there. Rarely has he set the team out this season with a working plan to deal with the opposition. It is usually about stumbling through the first half and then adjusting at half-time. It would be nice if Slot could come into the match a lot more often with an idea about how to beat the opponent, rather than just going in with the same slow pass around the back football until half-time. Also have to wonder why, when it is clear legs are tiring after 60 minutes, Slot fails to make full use of his substitutes. His lack of faith in anyone but his favourites is destructive to confidence.



The other big issue with this match, other than how poor both teams played, was the officials, who were terrible. I understand the lack of bravery to go with the letter of the law at the end and send off Szoboszlai, but it would have been nice to see common sense deployed and just allow the goal to stand. That is not my complaint with regards to the referee. It was just about everything else, with a similar foul by Silva not being considered enough to even give a foul, let alone a card, and numerous other inconsistent decisions, in favour of both teams.







Manchester City





Citeh are a pale blue shadow of the team they once were under Pep Guardiola. They look so fragile and beatable, which is the most frustrating thing about that match. Liverpool just about had them finished, once they scored, with City having no answer at all to Liverpool's play. Then they scored, sat back and gave City the chance they were so desperate to get. They did not even look particularly potent in the first half, when LFC were so bad. Arsenal will certainly never get a better chance to win the Premier League under Arteta than this season. City look very disjointed in the attack and their defence is shambolic at times. At last teams have stopped sitting off Rodri when he gets the ball and that has severely limited Man City's ability to play out.



Getting beat by this City team is extremely disappointing as there are so many weaknesses in the way they are playing, which have been exploited repeatedly by other teams. LFC failed to do any of that in the first half, leading to a struggle to produce anything, but Citeh still failed to truly create much, which shows just how weak they are this season. They have become even more reliant on Haaland to score, with very little creativity among the team. Their defence is massively compromised by injuries, but they barely had to defend in the first half to test it out. When they were tested, they were found badly wanting in the main. This is not a great Man City team by any means.







Liverpool





Alisson - he did come up with one good save when needed, but he is not looking anywhere near his best on the ball and did give away a needless penalty and was caught upfield in the dying seconds. It is not surprising that his form is suffering playing behind such a porous defence, it must be destroying his confidence.





Szoboszlai - I have seen a fair bit of criticism of his performance, for being caught playing everyone else onside for one of the City goals and the dragback that eventually led to his red card after a VAR review. Personally I do not understand why he is getting so much flak. On the first, people need to remember he is a midfielder, he is filling in at full-back and they did not even spend the week drilling him on the positional demands of the role as the players were given time off. Of course he is going to make mistakes like that, for me the blame has to be on the lack of coaching. No doubt because Slot wanted to go home and see his family, so the players got a few days off, when they are in such desperate need of coaching right now. On the red card, it was his desire to get back and not concede that caused the foul, it is just a shame a few more of his teammates did not have as much desire.





Konate - he has had his one decent performance of the season, so it was back to normal. Ball given away repeatedly, all over the shop defensively and constantly grabbing and pulling any opponent within reach. Should have scored as well.





van Dijk - instead of complaining about the criticism he is getting of his poor performances this season, he should actually try doing a bit of extra work on improving his game. Or maybe he could stop running away from the ball and actually make a challenge for it occasionally?





Kerkez - the best player in red, despite consistently having his runs ignored, as usual, by Gakpo. He was heavily involved at both ends of the pitch. His end product does need work, but he was very good overall.





Mac Allister - spent most of the game hiding. There were a couple of moments of good play, but that was all it was. Overall he was awful.





Gravenberch - absolutely disgraceful performance, pulling out of tackles, including the one that allowed them to go through and score what would have been their third if it had stood. He needs to go back to what he was doing last season. Oh, and actually make a tackle instead of bottling it.





Gakpo - he is having a poor season, but he was better in this game, actually offering a threat. Still refuses to play in Kerkez when a good opportunity presents itself though.





Wirtz - a difficult game for the German, he was given no time and space by City at all. That led to a poor performance, as he tried too hard to make things work, rather than just passing it on quickly.





Salah - another poor performance, despite a few moments of good play. Yes, he was double and triple teamed a lot, but that is not why his touch was loose and his passing was wayward.





Ekitike - he was always a threat, until the last few minutes when he was moved to the left wing. He could have done with more early balls, with Donnarumma hating to leave his line there was space there to exploit, which would force back the City defence and open up the midfield.





Jones - replaced Gakpo in the 85th minute. A hard to understand substitution as it was just after Citeh had equalised, yet Slot decided to make this change and move Ekitike to the left. It made little sense to me. Yes, Liverpool were being overrun in midfield (as usual under Slot), but that is because he chooses to have Mac Allister, the weakest midfielder I can remember in Liverpool red, sit in front of the defence and protect it. He then spends the next 90 minutes trying to hide, it seems, as he is never anywhere near where he is needed.





Chiesa - took the place of Kerkez in the 90th+3 minute. Once again he was given just a few minutes to try and rescue the team. It was not enough to do so.

Liverpool Article 05 Feb 2026
Liverpool v Newcastle United A Liverpool Perspective







A very odd game, with Newcastle being very much in the game until they scored and then Liverpool dominating the rest of the match. What was noticeable is the part referee Simon Hooper played in the win, simply by being his hopelessly incompetent self. His constant bad decisions had gradually ramped up the atmosphere as the Kop got more and more irate with his uselessness and, when Newcastle scored, that put the crowd firmly behind the team. From that moment on, the game only had one team in it, as Liverpool dominated.



The most pleasing thing to watch was their desire to get the ball forward and attack the Toon, even when leading 3-1, there was always a real hunger to get more. The tippy tappy passing around the back and slow build up play still showed up in odd moments, but it never lasted long and there was no sitting back and hoping to hold onto the lead. We saw just what this team is actually capable of and also saw the style of play that should have been evident from the first game of the season, rather than the slow, methodical approach Slot has favoured all season. With this style of play, there is no doubt in my mind that Liverpool would have been in the title battle this time around once more, rather than scraping round hoping for a top 4/5 finish.



Slot does have a big problem, which requires a lot more of these performances, rather than the tedious tippy tappy round the backline stuff that he seems to favour. That problem is that he is following on from Jurgen Klopp, that aura, that charisma, that easy charm and the way he integrated himself into the city and understood and utilised the power of the fans at Anfield. Slot simply does not have any of that. He has not moved his family over to England, he does not even live in the Liverpool area, which makes it difficult for him to really harness the passion coming from the stands, which is the real difference maker. That means that he has to win trophies, which he is making more difficult for himself by not bringing the crowd into play.



He does not help himself, for example dropping Ekitike the moment Isak was even within the range of 20% fit, when Ekitike had made himself a crowd favourite, was scoring goals and playing well. It is little wonder that the team are not able to really get a good run of performances together, to play consistent winning football, as without that truly ignited crowd the team is hampered. What this game showed is that it is still better suited to quick, attacking football, with Wirtz and Ekitike needing the ball played up to them as early as possible to get the most out of them.



On the minus side, I still fail to see what the coaching staff do with regards to the Gravenberch and Mac Allister pairing in midfield. Forcing Mac Allister to sit deeper provides a little more security than having no one there, but only a little, while Gravenberch is woefully unsuited to being in and around the penalty box most of the time. Having Gravenberch sit deep provides much more defensive security as his positional sense and mobility is better. Added to that, his driving runs from deep can be game changers. Mac Allister, on the other hand, offers little from deep, his ability to pick a telling pass around the edge of the box is negated and his ability to pop up and get on the end of something or hit a shot from around the edge of the box is useless.







Newcastle United





I was very disappointed in the Newcastle performance, I know they missed their key man Bruno (and they are still to win a game since he signed without him in their line up), but they looked out on their feet after about 30 minutes and, while they did go on to open the scoring in the 36th minute, let their heads drop after Liverpool took the lead with two quick goals. It means that I am now left wondering if Liverpool were actually all that good or if Newcastle just made it easy for them. Normally you look for ways that one team has nullified another to see how they have stifled them and stopped them playing, but there was none of that in this match. Liverpool were still wide open in midfield but Newcastle were just utterly unable to get control of the ball.



It was very clear without Joelinton and Bruno in midfield that Newcastle lack drive and defensive work, those two do so much to help protect the backline, as well as providing physical presence in the offensive third. It means that the poor organisation of the defence, something Howe's teams have always been prone to, is completely exposed, which Liverpool exploited extremely well. Like Aston Villa earlier in the season, they did set themselves up perfectly for Liverpool, which helped. You can see why Newcastle are struggling this season and it will require them to improve massively if they are to qualify for Europe again next season.



There are a lot of signs there that the Eddie Howe era is coming to an end. He does not seem to have any answers for their problems or ideas of how to take the team forward. Or even how to keep them at the level they achieved last season. They are so heavily reliant on Bruno that they simply have nothing to offer without him.







Liverpool





Alisson - Newcastle certainly seemed to be targeting him. He was fouled at every set piece, Newcastle did get a lot of corners, and there was also the late lunge by Gordon, which could easily have been a red card, rather than a yellow. Despite the attentions, he still came up with a big save when the score was 2-1.





Szoboszlai - playing at right-back but he had a very good game.





Konate - I will probably seem really churlish now and I will say it was his best game this season but, yes there is a but, he was still ropey positionally and made a few errors. He has just lost his father and he also scored a goal (which was a moment that brought a tear to the eye of most of us I am sure), so I would not normally even mention his errors and put them down to just not having his head in the right place. Unfortunately, they are part of his normal game, so it is difficult to just ignore them and pass them off as being just about grief.





van Dijk - he really needs to be more assertive and aggressive, stop backing away and put in a challenge. There were a lot of corners, which are always a dangerous moment, and a lot of the build up to Newcastle winning one began with van Dijk's decision to drop off early. It makes it very difficult for a press to work.





Kerkez - played really well and was dangerous when getting forward. The link up with Gakpo is still lacking, but it was the best it has been yet, some signs of them finally building an understanding. Played an excellent early pass to Ekitike for the second goal.





Mac Allister - the most pathetic piece of play acting since Rivaldo tried to claim he was hit in the face after the ball hit his leg has completely overshadowed his performance. His teammates really need to have a word with him now because it is embarrassing and I am beginning to dislike him due to his cheating. I would happily be rid of him.





Gravenberch - decent game, I would still like to see him work on his passing, which is wayward at times. I still would much prefer to see him playing the deeper role he was so successful in last season.





Gakpo - his best game of the season, he looked a genuine threat. He did tire in the latter stages though. He does still need to make more use of Kerkez.





Wirtz - excellent game, he is really starting to show what he can do now. Ekitike is particularly on his wavelength and the two are building up a great understanding. He has become the focal point for the attack, with opponents struggling to deal with him when he has a free role.





Salah - there were a couple of moments when the old Salah showed through, and he did add another assist to become the first Premier League player to score and assist double figures against one team. Mostly though, he was crowded out as Newcastle double-teamed him, but there were chances and he really should have added a goal.





Ekitike - once again he was really good and is looking like he could be the man to build the attack around, even after Isak gets fit. Scored two and was a thorn in the side of Newcastle throughout the match.





Chiesa - took the place of Salah in the 84th minute. Was brought on to help see out the dying minutes of the game, which he did with his usual enthusiasm.





Jones - replaced Ekitike in the 84th minute. Helped to see the game out.





Endo - was brought in on the stead of Wirtz in the 87th minute. Had little time and little to do, but he allowed Szoboszlai to move central and helped kill off the flickering hopes of the Newcastle fans.

Liverpool Article 19 Jan 2026
Liverpool v Burnley A Liverpool Perspective







This was a game that ended with the first crystal clear evidence that the Anfield crowd have turned against what Slot is doing, though their ennui was such with slow sideways and backwards passing that even the boos were half-hearted and short-lived. It has been coming, as results have just not improved, while performances are still as turgid as ever for long periods. Slot's preference for slow, controlled football, is absolutely killing the atmosphere, which is usually such a big part of Liverpool's success. It is hard to get excited when you are bored.



The sad thing is that there is no one to blame but Slot himself. Even if he has not been given the central defender that the team clearly needs, the team Slot has can do more and showed as much in the first half. That first half was among the best performances of the season, with Liverpool getting in behind the Burnley backline a number of times and creating openings, as well as getting a penalty which Szoboszlai crashed against the bar. That should have been the blueprint for the second half, but unfortunately LFC had taken the lead and Arne, in his infinite wisdom, always wants them to sit back when they take a lead. To slow the game down and to be more disciplined in attack, with less freedom for Wirtz, in particular, which completely stifles the team and puts pressure on the weakest link - the defence.



It is more and more obvious by the game that a change of head coach is needed, now it is just waiting for those with the power to make change to do so. Sadly, there just is no way back because Slot does not understand Liverpool FC at all, he has not realised that the key to long term success is to harness the crowd and ignite their passion. He does not seem to be learning lessons from what is happening, he just always wants to revert to the slow, boring, tedious passing around at the back for the sake of passing football that he favours.



Maybe it could have worked if his man-management was better and he had got the players onside and playing for him. Their lack of enthusiasm is clear in the way so many of them are out of form at once. One or two playing badly is almost certainly down to the player/s, but when you have almost an entire squad underperforming, well then that has to be laid at the door of the manager. There was so many good signs in the first half, it is frustrating to see that Slot messes with it at half-time and sets it all back to the same dross that has let him and the fans down all season. It was there in his hands at half-time to go on and take a big step forward, but it does feel like his heart is not in it and so he does not understand how that affects things. It makes me wonder if the big mistake was letting him leave his family behind in Holland, a Premier League manager's job is too much, too full on to be doing it without the close support of a family when things go wrong. Just ask Jose Mourinho.



On the game itself, one other thing I have to mention is the officials. Again. The incompetence is stunning now. These are not amateurs. These are not part timers. They are highly paid and trained yet they are absolutely useless. There is a huge amount of inconsistency in some things, but one thing they do consistently fail at is making decisions on contact on defenders. All any defender has to do is throw themselves to the ground if an attacker gets near them, immediately the referee gives them a free kick, no matter if there is any foul involved or not. It is ridiculous and really ruining any attempts to have an exciting, entertaining, attacking match, when attackers are so often punished for nothing. It is both teams that get the decisions, both are hampered by them when trying to build up an attack.







Burnley





The Clarets must be delighted to have come away from that with a result after offering almost nothing throughout the 90 minutes. They had just two short periods in the game where they even attempted to take the game to Liverpool and had just one shot on target. Burnley looked exactly like what they are - a terrible Premier League team playing to keep the score down in every game. Apart from those two spells, they simply sat back and looked to defend. The problem was that they simply are not good enough to defend for 90 minutes and Liverpool got behind them and in at them a number of times, though failed to make the most of their chances. Against a team in better form and full of confidence, Burnley would have got a spanking, but they were not facing those and so came away with a result that they can celebrate and use as a springboard to survive.



At least, they could if they had a manager with balls, but unfortunately they have Scott Parker in charge, who will do exactly the same in every game - sit back and hold on and hope. That attitude will see them go down with little real chance of survival because they will not attack enough to win, and they need wins to stay up, not more draws.







Liverpool





Alisson - he was mostly redundant, other than when the players passed back to him, but his kicking still looks a bit off. Made a blinding point blank reaction save from Konate, but could do nothing with the goal, so not a particularly good game overall.





Frimpong - looked very good going forward, though needs work on his final ball, but his defending is suspect still. That is fine against Burnley, who made little in the way of even attempting to attack, but better teams will cause problems if he is not given help from midfield.





Konate - his near own goal was just one of those things, but the rest of his game still worries me. It is still too easy for the opposition to attack him. He inspires no confidence at all. He was asleep and allowed the run for the goal. His positional sense is almost non-existent. He is far too reliant on van Dijk to talk him through the game for such an experienced player.





van Dijk - in the first half he was good, played some nice longer passes, but that vanished in the second half and his initial error in giving a weak header in the direction of Kerkez, that was picked off by Burnley, led to Konate's near own goal.





Kerkez - he is getting better as the games go by but has still yet to reach anything like the level he was at last season, his play is just far too restrained.





Szoboszlai - not one of his better performances, though far from a bad game for him, just not at his outstanding best. Firstly there was the penalty, which he smashed against the bar, then there was his constant ruining of counter attacks by slowing the play to walking pace. It was not what was needed at all.





Gravenberch - last season he was excellent as the holding midfielder, if he had been playing there in this match, instead of pushing higher up the pitch, I would have expected him to be in a position to have broken up the play ahead of Burnley's goal. He did not have a poor game particularly, but it is just such a dip from the performances we know he is capable of.





Gakpo - I know he has become something of a whipping boy among the fans, but I thought he was decent against Burnley, though far from great. One thing I do not understand though is that he is taking corners all of a sudden. For one, he is tall and strong in the air. For another, he is terrible at delivering corners. The set piece coach has been sacked, but still the problems remain with regards to them.





Wirtz - it seems to be becoming a theme for him. Excellent in the first half when given freedom to roam, then Slot orders him to hold on the wing and be more disciplined and it destroys his second half. He is not a winger, why try and force him to sit out wide where he is not able to really threaten? I do not understand it.





Jones - watching him always leaves me thinking that there is so much more to come from him. He always plays far too safe and, of course, takes too many touches. He is so much better than that, he has shown it on occasions, but if he keeps playing like this he will only ever be, at best, a rotation option.





Ekitike - linked up really well with Wirtz in the first half and the pair look really dangerous. He is, at times, the only one providing any movement for the midfield to pick out.





Ngumoha - took the place of the Gakpo in the 78th minute. Needs to work on his end product, but he did have the beating of the full-back.





Robertson - replaced Kerkez in the 78th minute. He was, once again, awful. I love him for all he has done, but it is time for him to move on, which is why I find it incredible that he has even been offered a new contract by the club. He is simply not good enough any more.





Mac Allister - was brought in on the stead of Gravenberch in the 78th minute. At least he shot, I suppose, but they were very hit and hope and most of them were just a waste with better options ahead of him.





Chiesa - came on for Jones in the 87th minute. It is just so pointless bringing him on constantly so late in the match.

Liverpool Article 06 Jan 2026
Fulham v Liverpool A Liverpool Perspective







Once again the team line up was disrupted by soft tissue injuries, with Ekitike missing out and Wirtz carrying a hamstring issue. They are the injuries that are the result of a lack of fitness, something which has been clear in this side all season. I have seen people make excuses for Liverpool's poor form due to such injuries, but clearly they are the fault of the coaches, which means they are no excuse and are something the coaching staff needs to sort out. This Liverpool team is simply not fit enough to cope with the demands of Premier League football, when they were previously the fittest in the league. It is a major contributing factor to the poor form and style of play, as the players simply do not have the stamina to play at speed for 90 minutes. Even playing as slowly as they have been, we see a number go down with cramp in the match. It is something which simply cannot be excused at this point in the season.



It showed up badly in this match as they tried to inject urgency into their play but could only keep it up for a short spell before it faded. The press was there in the first 10 minutes, only to fade away and vanish into lethargy. In the second half, they again came out with a bit of intensity and again it faded after a short period. The team look so much better when moving the ball quickly and playing at a higher tempo, it is really frustrating that the players are not able to keep it up. They quickly revert to the slow, ponderous rolling the ball around sideways and backwards. There is a lack of forward runners off the ball, yet when runs are made chances are usually created.



It is little wonder Kerkez and Wirtz have struggled so badly. Kerkez is one of the only ones making runs, but the ball rarely goes to him and Wirtz needs movement to pick out when he has the ball and is often left searching for some kind of run to play in and finding nothing. It is no better defensively, nobody picking up runners, everyone being dragged out of position and usually leaving van Dijk on his own in the middle trying to deal with 3 or 4 players. The late equaliser for Fulham was even worse than that, as everyone just stood and watched him close in and take a shot. At that point in the game, with the team leading by a goal, there should have been at least one player busting a gut to close him down. There is just a complete lack of heart and desire in this team, which is shocking as it was only last season that those were the things to drag LFC to the Premier League title.



It is so frustrating to watch, why sit back every time they take a lead? Every time there is any sign of a step forward in a match, Slot makes changes and takes it back to this diabolically poor style. It is astonishing that this team have managed to crawl into the top half, let alone the top four, the way they are playing. I also do not understand the decision to allow Wirtz's goal to stand. He was flagged off at the time, surely if the semi-automated system is too useless to be certain we should just go with the on-field decision? It is not like he even looked on to the naked eye, or even if it was questionable. Every single time I saw it, I thought he was offside. Visibly so.







Fulham





The Cottagers were good, but not great, they just broke quickly when the chance came, unlike Liverpool. They certainly did enough to deserve at least a draw and are understandably upset that a clearly offside goal was allowed to stand. However, they did not really do enough to go out and win the game, despite Liverpool being so woeful. They were happy to sit in and wait for chances to break, making it difficult for Liverpool and challenging them to find a way to break them down. They did end up at times with lots of bodies in the box, but no one actually making a challenge, which is criminal. One player should always be closing the ball down and not allowing it to get into the box. Overall though, they will probably feel fairly happy with their performance and the chances they created.







Liverpool





Alisson - looking to be getting back to his best, his kicking looked a lot better and more decisive, but he could do nothing with the goals.





Bradley - charges about mindlessly, sometimes it works, but most of the time it just ends up getting in the way of someone else.





Konate - is it possible he is getting worse? When the bar is set so low, is anyone capable of getting under it? It has gone from just a few brain farts a game and getting caught out of position a bit to being constantly out of position and barely making an effort. He always had a tendency to struggle against big strong forwards, for a big man he is weak as an American's cup of tea, but now he is getting battered by anyone who gets near him. I do not understand the point in sticking by him.





van Dijk - difficult to judge him in this game, he was basically defending on his own almost every time Fulham countered.





Kerkez - he is getting forward and making runs, but the ball never comes to him until he has started to come back. He is being so badly misused, I actually feel sorry for him.





Jones - was one of the few who looked to drive forward and make things happen but, as usual, far too often he takes the momentum out of the attack by taking a touch or two or three too many.





Gravenberch - gets caught up field far too much for the one defensive midfielder in the side.





Gakpo - he did score, but it was after spurning a few good chances. Looked sluggish most of the game.





Wirtz - you could see he was struggling with an injury, he looked slow and very off the pace.





Szoboszlai - worked hard but needs to be stronger in the challenge and make more runs in behind. He has the pace to be a real threat, but he tends to want to hang round the edge of the box, rather than making a run for a ball in behind.





Mac Allister - once again offered nothing and is little more than a very slightly mobile traffic cone. A very weak traffic cone which falls over a lot and then spends the next 20 minutes rearranging his hair.





Frimpong - replaced Wirtz in the 76th minute. Showed intent and got forward at pace, something that had been missing badly. Great cross for the second.





Chiesa - came on for Jones in the 85th minute. I just do not understand why this move was made so late. He is another, like Frimpong, that always looks to drive forward and works hard, just give him enough time to actually do something!





Gomez - took the place of Gakpo in the 90th+5 minute. Once again, despite it failing multiple times already this season, Slot decided to shut the game down after Liverpool took a one goal lead. It just does not work with a team this weak defensively.

Liverpool Article 05 Jan 2026
Liverpool v Leeds United A Liverpool Perspective







A return to turgid football, despite facing a low block where the easiest way to beat it is via fast ball movement. Once again Slot hits on a formula that works and then throws it out of the window and reverts to this dire imitation of possession football. It is hard to understand his thinking, why the desire to constantly go back to this style of football that fails him time and time again. It is beyond my understanding how he can not see that the team are just not suited to it. At least last season he started with this slow, lumbering play and then changed to get results at half time. This season, he is more likely to change from a system that is working to something that does not work at all, like he did against Wolves.



That first half showed some signs of promise, carrying on in that vein in the second half could have been the start of something. Instead he made changes at half time that killed Liverpool as an attacking threat. Worse is that he never seems to see what he has done and kept the system from the second half for this match too. The result was a complete lack of any kind of threat other than the odd flash from a player taking the ball and running with it. Ekitike probably should have had a penalty, but it would have been undeserved in terms of overall play, as Liverpool's attacking threat was non-existent.



This cannot go on as this squad is far too good to be struggling so badly. It is hard to understand how Slot cannot see the problems, because they are all obvious to anyone watching. The play is too negative, too much sideways and backwards passing. It is too slow. There is a lack of movement. Players are taking too many touches before moving the ball on and so killing any momentum. There is a lack of intensity and aggression in the play, which is contributing massively to the failings in set pieces. And there is a clear lack of fitness, with players out on their feet, despite playing at walking pace, midway though the second half. It is a mess.







Leeds United





Leeds very much deserved at least a point, they were very good, defending with all their heart and ability to get a good result, and looked dangerous on the break. I was actually very impressed with them, they are a completely different prospect from Farke's Norwich City teams when he got them into the Premier League. There is more ambition, energy and belief about them. They are playing like a team that believes they are good enough to survive and it is difficult to disagree. There are goals in the team, they work for each other and they are solid defensively, a recipe for a good team. They do lack strength in depth, and their squad could easily become stretched and that cost them, but that looks to be the only thing that will cost them a second season in the Prem.



I have to say, well done to Farke, whether it was by accident or whatever, he has found a way of playing that fits the club. I was not a big fan of him as a head coach, but he has shown that it is possible to learn from mistakes and improve. That is rare, most are too arrogant to believe that what they have settled on as the right way to play could possibly be wrong and need to be changed. Though, the big test will be what he does next season. Will he stick with this new set up and run with it for the long term or will he revert to what he knows like so many do, ignoring the success of the change? That will be when we really know if he has truly learnt or it is just a bit of expediency to see him through a season.







Liverpool





Alisson - not as solid as he has been, and his kicking is still not back to its best, but still inspires confidence from his teammates, despite the odd mistake.





Frimpong - one of the few players to be able to get in behind Leeds and cause them issues. He just never got the ball early enough. Instead he usually received it after he had stopped his run and was unable to do much with it. Showed good pace when given the opportunity.





Konate - there is still no sign of him improving. An awful season and his performances match that every game.





van Dijk - struggled until Calvert-Lewin came on. He looked a lot more comfortable up against a proper number 9, who wanted to battle him physically.





Robertson - kept getting forward but offered little and then lacks the legs to get back when the ball is lost. Sadly it is time to move on from him.





Jones - played fairly well, though still can be guilty of too many touches.





Gravenberch - a long way off the level he was at last season. Neglects his defensive duties far too often, though I do realise that is under instruction, I would like to see him recognise for himself that he needs to drop deeper.





Bradley - his play is so often brainless, hopefully something that can be fixed as he gains experience. Right now, he is a very average right-back who gets injured far too often. I seen footage of Carragher referring to Kerkez as being like having Darwin Nunez at left-back, but I think he has that wrong, it is Bradley who is like Nunez. The lack of intelligence and brainless running anyway, Nunez works a lot harder at getting back to help the defence than Bradley does and that is something that I am finding annoying with him. In this match, Frimpong and Gravenberch were needed to cover in behind as he made no effort to get back. If he is going to get caught up field so much, then he needs to have an effect like Trent had, right now he is just a liability causing the team to get dragged out of shape for little return at all.





Wirtz - worked hard, despite carrying a hamstring niggle, but was unable to really make an impact with the ball and had a poor game. You have to wonder about the wisdom of starting him when he is carrying a niggle like that.





Szoboszlai - he is still working hard, but everything is so disjointed now that his effort is no longer bringing others with it. Now it is very much solo work. When he goes to press, it no longer triggers others to press too. That is a very big issue, it should be leading the rest to react. Really does need to learn how to tackle though, I cannot remember seeing him win one.





Ekitike - his honesty lost him a penalty, as he stayed on his feet. Terrible piece of refereeing. He looked the one player capable of getting a goal.





Kerkez - replaced Robertson in the 66th minute. Ridiculous decision to bring him on along with Gakpo, as it just means all his good play is wasted when Gakpo ignores him and refuses to pass to him.





Gakpo - came on for Wirtz in the 66th minute. Offered little. His lack of effort after coming on was frustrating. How he gets on ahead of Chiesa is beyond me. At least Chiesa makes an effort and has made an impact as a sub this season, Gakpo is coasting through games at the moment.





Mac Allister - took the place of Jones in the 66th minute. Came on and did his usual of being as effective as a wet paper bag is at holding your groceries.





Chiesa - was brought on in the stead of Bradley in the 79th minute. He at least gives 100% and makes a difference, forcing the defence to react to him. He just needs his time on the pitch built up. Put him on instead of Gakpo and perhaps he could have played in one of the runs the left-back made, rather than totally ignoring them.





Ngumoha - Frimpong went off to let Ngumoha attempt to rescue the three points in the 84th minute. Another panicky substitution, as Slot just threw as many forwards on to the pitch as possible, with no real plan of how to use them. He did look like he could cause issues, running with the ball, but his end product needs work. He is still very raw and inexperienced, but he is not getting enough minutes to really improve and figure out what he most needs to work on.

Liverpool Article 30 Dec 2025
Liverpool v Wolverhampton Wanderers A Liverpool Perspective







The first half was another step forward for Liverpool, dominating the possession and pegging Wolves back for almost the entire 45. Though it must be said, this was not a Wolves team that offered a lot of resistance. However, letting Wirtz, Chiesa and Ekitike roam all over the pitch covered for the fact that Mac Allister offered absolutely nothing, almost making it feel like there were eleven players on the Liverpool team in the first half. Wirtz was the key, he was getting the ball in places where he could do damage and ran the show. With Frimpong and Kerkez bombing on down the flanks, it meant there was always width in the team to occupy Wolves' thoughts as well. It was a very good tactical set up to nullify and defeat a deep lying defence trying to park the bus and the 2-0 lead was fully deserved as the teams went off at the break.



Unfortunately, Slot had some kind of Konate brain fart moment at half time and decided to rip up everything that was working so well and lock Wirtz on to the left flank, rendering him mostly ineffective. His constant choices to look to hold onto a lead are a real bugbear for me, especially against a team like Wolves, who are, possibly ironically(?), toothless. This happened a lot last season as well, the team would have their foot on the throat of the opposition and he would make changes which lifted it off. It would then require a frantic, Klopp-style, high intensity finish to the game to get the result. The problem is, that high intensity level has vanished out of the team this season, they simply are not fit enough to sustain it. They can barely manage 90 minutes at the slow, laborious pace Slot often has them playing at. This really needs to be looked at and rectified.



The lack of fitness, which sees a massive drop off as the second half goes on, is extremely worrying. There are players like Szoboszlai and Wirtz, who look fit, but most of the rest look well off being fully fit, Isak was just the most obvious example of the malaise. For me, it is holding back the team from being able to really step up and push on up the table to chase after the top 3 and pick off any one of them that falls away as the season goes on. The play is showing positive signs, though still too slow and boring for my liking, it is getting results and that is the most important thing.







Wolverhampton Wanderers





They are so bad, they came to lose, with no ambition of even snatching a draw and nearly got handed one anyway due to a poor tactical decision at half-time by Slot and Konate's ineptitude. There is, it is very clear, absolutely no confidence amongst most of the squad, apart from the youngster Mane, who was obviously buzzing to make his full debut at Anfield. That is why he was the one player who really looked to make things happen and took the game to Liverpool almost on his own at times. You could also see the big forward Tolu growing in confidence, as he realised he could bully both Liverpool's centre-backs, and he gave them a really hard night.



The biggest problem for Wolves is the lack of creativity, they have two very good defensive midfielders in the centre of midfield but they are out of their depth when breaking forward, as we saw when Gomes broke clear. The whole team lacks any real forward impetus, they were heavily reliant on Cunha creating something out of nothing last season, now he is gone, they have almost nothing. Unless Edwards can find a reliable method of producing chances with this squad, and he will have to pretty much magic it out of thin air by the looks of it, they are going to make Derby County's worst-ever Premier League team look like world beaters.



The only real hope for Wolves' fans is that the confidence gained from giving LFC a fright in the second half can be built upon in forthcoming games and helped by some clever January signings. I am not sure anyone, even with a blank cheque to sign any player in the world in January, can actually save them now though. They look the biggest certs for relegation I have ever seen. To me, I think their only real option is to accept that and give Edwards time to turn it around next season, as there does not seem to be a better option out there for them other than to hope to get an immediate return next season.







Liverpool





Alisson - had little to do, though he did seem to get infected with the panic after Wolves pulled one back and made a sloppy pass.





Frimpong - had a really good game, particularly in the first half, where he was able to get forward at will from full-back and used his pace and energy to run at them, creating a goal.





Konate - awful again, got away with a few mistakes in the first half and then made an embarrassing dive after failing to deal with the ball in for their goal. To have the cheek to





van Dijk - decent game, not top van Dijk level, but good. He won his aerial battles up against Tolu and dealt with the big man well when he faced him.





Kerkez - finally let off the leash and allowed to charge forward at will in the first half and he rewarded Slot for that freedom by putting in a really good performance in the first half. With Wirtz wandering all over the pitch, he had acres of space to run into, and he took full advantage of it. Unfortunately, he was constrained in the second half, with a return to an overly static and slow set up and was just decent. That first half needs to be the blueprint of how to use him.





Jones - as usual Jones is frustrating, good moments are mixed with just as many where he has a chance to take a game by the scruff of the neck but just fails to take that step up. The ability is there, he just needs to learn when to hold onto the ball and when to release it. What I was impressed with was his experience at the end of the game, taking the sting out of it by putting himself into a position where he knew he would get fouled by the Wolves' players, who were desperate to win the ball back. That is what I call clever play, not diving to win a free kick where no foul happened, but putting yourself into a position to draw a genuine foul by ensuring your back is exposed to an onrushing player. He knew it was coming and he could easily have tried to make it into a battle by putting his shoulder in as well, but it made a lot more sense to simply take the foul.





Gravenberch - good finish for the goal and some nice moments but he really needs to work on his passing. He can burst into space so easily and clearly strikes a ball cleanly, so why is his passing often so poor? It is the biggest chink in his play. I am not including vacating the space in front of the defence, as that is on instruction rather than him doing something wrong on his own.





Chiesa - I know a lot have criticised his performance and been unhappy that he tired early and needed to be withdrawn, but I think, especially considering how rusty he must be, he had a good game. He was involved at both ends of the pitch, tracking back well, working extremely hard and also showed some good movement to create space on the right. He was a good foil for Wirtz, who popped up everywhere and needed someone like Chiesa to vacate space and draw away defenders for him to operate.





Wirtz - in my opinion, in the first half, he was head and shoulders above everyone else on the pitch. He was given freedom to roam and he used it. He was also excellent at harrying the opposition defence and tracking back, he is not just a brilliant ball player, he is a genuinely hard working player. He ran the game in the first half and was at the heart of everything, as well as finally getting his first goal for LFC. Then, for some reason I really do not understand, Slot decided to shackle him to the left wing and nullified him completely. It changed the game completely and brought Wolves back into it, when it should have been a case of grinding them into the dirt and improving the goal difference. A huge tactical error for me.





Mac Allister - what does this guy have to do to get dropped? Or even subbed off? Once again utterly abysmal. Most overrated player Liverpool have had in years. He had so few good games last season and this season he has not had one, but somehow he is still seen as a top midfielder. Along with Konate, he could so easily be upgraded upon and it would would transform this team by simply putting someone in there who offers something.





Ekitike - once again looked like a real threat, though was never really able to use his pace to run in behind. His work winning the ball back and then playing in Wirtz for his goal showed that he is not just a goalscorer. He should be embarrassed by the way he went down holding his throat after just being brushed. That was Mac Allister levels of pathetic.





Bradley - replaced the tiring Chiesa in the 61st minute. Once again mixed, he does something excellent but usually follows it with a moment of stupidity. There is a player there, but he needs a lot of guidance to understand that just running into the centre of the pitch up front is not the be all and end all.





Gakpo - came on for the also tiring Ekitike in the 86th minute. Looked lethargic and sluggish, failed to track back the way Wirtz had been, despite having fresh legs and only a few minutes to play.





Nyoni - took the place of Wirtz in the 90th+2 minute. Came on far too late to really do much one way or the other.

Liverpool Article 22 Dec 2025
Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool A Liverpool Perspective







This was not a particularly good game to watch and even worse of a performance. The team look unfit, weak, sluggish and mentally prone to collapsing when they make an error, which they often do because of the mental weakness and lack of fitness. You only had to look at the Spurs goal, with the whole slew of mistakes before it, all of them were that of players that looked tired. Crazy when they have spent the season playing slow, controlled football, and this match they spent most of it up against ten men. Yet they looked like they had been the team with ten. To be fair though, starting with Mac Allister is very much like playing with ten men this season.



The first half was a poor watch, the second better. Both teams are not playing well and look very lacking in confidence. Liverpool's play is far too slow and laboured, which is why they have become heavily reliant on mistakes by the opposition to score goals. Let's make no bones about it, Spurs are not a good team and yet they made it extremely difficult for Liverpool, not just with ten men, but also with 9. Not because they did anything particularly good either, it was simply because LFC were so poor overall. They still look like a team not entirely comfortable with the way they are being asked to play, as it cannot be about confidence when on a good run, as they are.



The defending is still shocking, with Konate and van Dijk managing to both do nothing other than a swipe and miss at the ball on the Spurs goal. The pair of them are so poor at communicating, despite having played together for years. It is something that really should be being worked on. Though it would be much better if they just worked on integrating someone else, anyone else, alongside van Dijk. There has to be a youth player that would be better than him. They can certainly be developed into a better player, whereas Konate is not playing for Liverpool in his head any more, that much is clear.



Despite a win, it is far easier to pick negatives than positives out of this match, as there was just so much bad about the Liverpool performance. The results have improved in recent weeks, but the play is still as worryingly bad as it was during the bad run of form. You can only hope that the good results continue and it brings with it improvements in confidence and performances.







Tottenham Hotspur





They are certainly beginning to get into the Frank way. Or, as it is better known, shithousery. It is easy to see why the Spurs fans have not taken to Frank at all, when they have traditionally always played open, attacking football, easy on the eye and entertaining to watch. Under Frank, the football is dour, with the emphasis on kicking players late and playing for set pieces. It is not an enjoyable watch and contributed heavily to one of the most tedious first halves of the season in particular. Frank is just Sam Allardyce, without the pint of wine and brown envelopes. Though I would say he is an inferior copy, as at least Allardyce got entertaining football out of his team when he had Okocha and co at Bolton, whereas Frank is producing mind numbing football despite having a bit of flair at his disposal in Kudus.



Despite their late flurry, Tottenham can have no complaints about the scoreline, nor either sending off. In fact, they can probably feel themselves lucky there were just two reds. The red by Simons was clearly a red, it looked deliberate, as well as needless. The kick out by Romero, after spending all game in the referees face, abusing him, almost asking to be carded with his attitude, was always going to be a red. Soft as it was, in terms of violent conduct, they are always given as a card of some kind, quite often a straight red. Then there was the ridiculous needless charge into Kerkez by Bentancur, so long after the ball had gone. It was a yellow, but on another day could easily have been a red.



I have to say that it showcased the biggest problem Spurs have, along with being unable to get the crowd behind them, is their complete lack of discipline. Romero is the obvious example, he is amongst the rashest and wildest players in the modern game. Incredible that he is a regular international footballer, he makes Sergio Ramos look like a calm, considered tackler. Even worse, he is captaining Spurs! That is insanity of the highest degree to name him, one of the worst players at the club as well, as captain, where he can get himself even more wound up arguing with referees. He spent his entire game just screaming at the ref and was so lucky not to pick up a second yellow long before he got one. He also tried a few times to start a fight with Konate, before eventually just kicking out at him. He is a liability, as he showed on the second goal, where he dived rather than trying to win the header and cost them a goal.



The other thing I noticed is that Spurs are still Spursy. By that I mean they lack fight for each other and their manager. They are happy to scream at the officials, but they pull out of tackles against the weakest Liverpool team I can remember seeing. They would rather moan and whine and complain, rather than work to fix it. The more I watch them, the more I see a team that just has the wrong attitude.







Liverpool





Alisson - had little to do, but when called upon he was quick off his line and quick to get back up and clear the loose ball too. Dealt with the final flurry well.





Bradley - he is a strange player, at times he is brilliant, but at other times he just runs about aimlessly getting in other players' way. It does feel like he just lack intelligence and so needs to be given a more clearly defined role. That is why he excels in games, in my opinion anyway, where he does not have time to think. For me, that would explain why he was so good in his season playing wing-back in League One, as he had a clearly defined role and instructions to follow. Not that it seems to matter as he is incapable of staying fit for an extended period. Until his injury problems are fixed, he is never going to reach his potential.





Konate - a much less crazy performance but still the usual moments of insanity - it is just that the infection seems to be spreading now to the others, judging by the Spurs goal! Still needed to be rescued by Alisson on one occasion, still a weak link that is dragging down the defence. His booking was idiotic and needless, caused once again by himself being caught trying to grapple an opponent, instead of dropping off and being sure at 2-0 up. Slot termed it as always being caught at the scene of the crime, which is a good way to point out that he is causing his own issues.





van Dijk - strong in the air, but when Spurs attacked with the ball on the ground, he was all over the place. His partnership with Konate is non-existent at the moment, he is constantly being forced to cover for him, which is not helping him. However, I think he should be talking more and getting Konate in line, rather than trying to do both jobs and ending up not doing either very well.





Kerkez - his game has been improving, he is getting forward better and defending better too. Still a long way off his Bournemouth level, but much better than his first few games.





Jones - had a mixed game, nearly costing the team an equaliser after doing his usual dwelling on the ball. There is so much to like about him, but he needs to make the step up to the next level on a consistent basis.





Gravenberch - actively got out of the way of Porro's cross, which only did not cost LFC a goal because Spence missed the ball completely. Overall, he did not provide enough protection to the defence, nor did he make any real difference at the attacking end to make up for it. I would much rather see him sitting deeper, he was much better doing that last season than he is playing this much more free role.





Szoboszlai - as soon as he is out of the midfield, it looks weak and wide open. Yes, he can do a very good job at right-back, but the midfield is a shell without him. Slot really needs to find a more viable solution at right-back, to allow him to stay in the centre.





Wirtz - probably the biggest highlight of the match. Not just getting his first assist, but his overall play is really stepping up. You can see an understanding slowly coming with his teammates, who have struggled to see the game at the same level as him up until now. The passes were going in, but most of the time the rest of the team were slow to realise and so they ended up going astray. Now they are starting to connect more often as the other players have begun to understand just how good he is and what he can see.





Mac Allister - this match reminded me of just how special Mac Allister is. To be on a pitch alongside Romero, van der Ven, Spence, Kolo Muani, Simons, Johnson and particularly Konate and yet still be head and shoulders above them as the worst player on the pitch is special. I can only think Slot had forgotten he was on the pitch, that is the only reason I can think of for not hooking him before it finished. His performances are getting worse, which takes some doing considering how abysmal he has been this season. It is embarrassing watching him give the ball away or have it stolen from him, and then throw himself to the ground and pretend to be injured. Why on earth van Dijk has not gotten him by the scruff of the neck and told him to cut it out as he is making the whole team look foolish, I have no idea.





Ekitike - another goal and another impressive performance. He is looking like a bargain, despite his high price tag.





Isak - replaced the injured Bradley in the 46th minute. Scored again but picked up an injury doing so and had to go off, so difficult to judge what he did in those 15 minutes or so.





Frimpong - came on for the also injured Isak in the 60th minute. Looked very good, attacked well down the right and worked back well. His attitude about going off was a worry though. It did seem like he lost his head a bit after a bang in the face which caused a cut on his lip. It was not that bad and looked far from an elbow, just a bit of a coming together, but he had to be taken off as he was clearly not focused on the game after it. That to me seemed the main reason for taking him off, rather than the injury itself.





Chiesa - took the place of Frimpong, who was injured after replacing Isak who got injured after replacing the injured Bradley, in the 90th minute. Provided a bit of energy and work rate, but had little time to really impact the match.





Robertson - replaced Ekitike in the 90+8th minute. Really little more than a time wasting exercise.





Nyoni - brought on for Wirtz in the 90+8th minute. Like Robertson, it was little more than time wasting to bring him on, but he really should have stayed onside when he had the chance to run clear. He had fresh legs and acres of space, all he needed to do was keep himself onside, but he failed, despite looking around a few times. Hopefully he will have at least learnt a lesson from that.