It’s March 18th and nobody’s quite sure yet what the current version of Liverpool is meant to look like, tactically. As one might expect given that, the 2025-26 season hasn’t exactly gone to plan, and they find themselves heading into the second leg of their Champions League Round of 16 tie with one foot out of Europe.
After being beaten 1-0 by Galatasaray on the road in the first leg, though, they at least get to play at Anfield in the second round, though after the weekend’s disappointing 1-1 draw
with Tottenham that saw Anfield’s patience run out and boos following the full time whistle, it’s not clear what the mood will be inside the stadium.
“We’ve got such a massive game ahead of us,” said left back Andy Robertson ahead of kickoff. “I know it’s a boring answer and we’ve obviously given ourselves an uphill battle. I think we’re all frustrated at the fact that we can’t find consistency because last season that’s probably what set us apart from everyone in the league.
“That’s why we ended up winning the league pretty comfortably. It’s hard to put your finger on why we’ve not been able to get that consistency this season. It’s been a huge frustration for all of us. We’ve all been trying to put our finger on it. For whatever reason we’ve not quite found it yet, but we can’t give up trying.”
On that front, time is now running out on what threatens to be a wasted season, and anything less than a win tonight will mean exiting Europe—and doing so with a difficult FA Cup quarter final against Manchester City on the horizon and while in the midst of a battle to re-qualify for next season’s Champions League.
The good news, though, is at least for now there’s still time for this group to find their feet. It’s been seven months of largely frustrating football and underwhelming results, and any hoped for league title defence is long gone, but a performance that can win back over the crowd and keep them in Europe would do a lot.
“I think since I’ve been here for nine years now our aim is always to be sending our fans home happy,” Robertson added. “When they go bounding out of Anfield, we know we’ve done our job. I think in football that gives you the biggest satisfaction, people heading back into the pubs or back to their families that night happy.
“On Sunday they weren’t happy and neither were we and I can completely understand that. So now we have to give them something that they can shout about, something to cheer, and we have to give them something to get off their chairs and off their seats. If we can do that then we know that the fans will react off that.
“It doesn’t take them much, which is a credit to them. They’ll cheer a lot of things, even the basics. They’ll be right behind us tomorrow night, but we have to give them something to get behind.”
