For as poorly as the 2025-26 season has gone for Liverpool, there’s still time to turn it all around and arrive at the end of the season in a manner that most would agree on balance represents a solid year. Time, though, is running out and Wednesday’s second leg Round of 16 tie against Galatasaray could be a make or break moment.
Liverpool are down a goal after the first leg but the second is at Anfield, and with Galatasaray’s fans banned from travelling by UEFA it will be all home support for Arne
Slot and the Reds. After a disheartening 1-1 draw—and a very underwhelming performance to get it—with Tottenham on Sunday, though, the mood is bordering on dire.
We’re now deep into March and this Liverpool side still haven’t shown signs of establishing a tactical identity, are often out-run by opponents but still look exhausted after an hour—while said opponents push for stoppage goals, of which the Reds have given up a top five leagues-worst ten—and on Sunday, the grumbles turned to boos.
“Of course I feel pressure,” Slot reflected of the situation he and his players find themselves in. “We all feel pressure because we are in an industry where every single day there’s pressure. We’re working at a beautiful club with a great, great history so we feel this but we can achieve the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
“So yeah, that all comes with pressure. But it’s also nice to have pressure because we could have also been out or playing at a lower level or not even be in it. So we embrace the pressure and look forward to facing Galatasaray. We need to score a goal, that’s what we know, and hopefully to score more than one—so we will go for it.”
It’s the distinct lack of going for it that has proven hardest for many fans, with Liverpool’s once vaunted press little more than a memory now and the players at least appearing to have been coached to avoid risky passes and focus first on retaining possession. At times, it’s resulted in football that borders on stale and indifferent.
It’s also resulted in too many pre-match press conferences where the head coach and players come out talking about how they need to embrace the pressure and play a more aggressive, attacking, entertaining brand of football. So far, though, that talk hasn’t translated, and after the Spurs draw Anfield will need impressing.
“We feel the importance of this game because we are able to reach the quarter-final and that would be special,” Slot added. “We can never take a quarter-final in the Champions League for granted. No matter how much this club has performed in the past, we will always be happy reaching that if we are able to beat Galatasaray.”
