Two losses in four days has created a subtle concern surrounding Liverpool’s performances this 2025/26 season.
Although Arne Slot’s side find themselves at the top of the Premier League, two points clear of London challengers, Arsenal, they are yet to look their convincing selves.
Five wins out of six is no mean feat and an early loss in the Champions League against Galatasaray should not cause too much difficulty as they look to qualify through to the knockout stages.
However, performance levels have dropped. The smooth transitioning and defensively sound Liverpool of last season has changed. The Reds stole a lot of airtime during the summer transfer market, spending over £446 million and bringing in 10 players whilst also offloading 25 players through transfers and loans.
Liverpool signed a plethora of talented footballers, including Germany international Florian Wirtz who has not hit the ground running, due to a lack of output and creativity provided for his new team.
It is now eight appearances without a return and with a price tag of £116 million, doubts of the midfielder’s starting position are becoming a growing concern. However, he’s 22-years-old and moving away from home for the first time, adapting to new tactics, the league’s physicality, a new lifestyle, must be difficult to maintain the word class levels he displayed at Bayern Leverkusen.
Wirtz is not solely to blame for Liverpool’s questionable performances, there are deeper, more worrying issues within the club. A defensive weakness has occurred. Liverpool have kept just two clean sheets, compared to six last season at the same point. They have been saved by late winners in six games, with three of them being 2-0 leads which were thrown away. An imbalance in midfield and a vulnerability to counter-attacks has caused games to become much more difficult than initially intended.
With the exception of a few dominant displays, Ibrahima Konate has started poorly this campaign. With his front-foot mentality and aggressive approach, teams have cracked the code in opening Slot’s defence.
The Frenchman continued his poor form with mistakes leading to opposition chances in both the Galatasaray and Crystal Palace matches, causing discomfort amongst his teammates and the travelling fans. Whilst Konate has clearly struggled, the lack of control and midfield imbalance has also contributed to the goals conceded by The Reds.
Last season, Ryan Gravenberch would be situated in front of the defence with Alexis Mac Allister or Curtis Jones alongside him, with Dominik Szoboszlai sat in a deep ten position.
But the addition of Wirtz has changed the dynamic in midfield. Gravenberch remains as a ‘modern’ central defensive midfield and Writz still remains as first pick for Slot in a more advanced role behind the striker. But the eight position continues to be an obstacle in tightening up the defence.
Jones struggling to find form, Max Allister, who has not completed 90 minutes for the club since April, and Szoboszlai, who is naturally attacking minded, are all contributing factors for Liverpool’s vulnerability in defence.
When you think of Liverpool teams of recent, the attack has always stood out. With quick turn of play and ruthlessness in front of goal, it is hard to keep them at bay. But with this new line up, the attack has not clicked and has looked disjointed at times. New signing, Hugo Ekitike has looked sharp upfront, scoring three leagues and looking confident in his new surroundings, but he still squandered a big chance in Turkey, a few moments before Galatasaray were awarded a penalty. Building the fitness of Alaxander Isak still remains a work in progress for the Liverpool staff and trying to juggle both strikers is a dilemma which they face.
When goals and creativity dry up, reliable Mohammad Salah steps up. However, even the Egyptian has struggled to follow on from his outstanding previous season. Coming into the new campaign, the expectation for Salah is higher than most, but he is struggling for form. In eight combined Premier League and Champions League matches, Salah has three goals and assists, which on paper is not an issue, but his performances have been lacklustre and underwhelming.
The form of Salah has helped teammate Cody Gakpo’s lack of contributions go under the radar. He last assisted against Newcastle, back in August and scored the week before in the opening game of the season.
There’s enormous expectation on Liverpool to bring silverware to the city once again, but the way they are playing cannot continue throughout the season if they intend to achieve this. Slot has a lot to think about, and a lot to decide in the next few weeks.
