Liverpool’s results were much improved through December, with the Reds tallying up five wins and a pair of draws over their past seven matches and going a long way towards making up for a dire run through October and November. Digging below the surface, though, there are still concerns.
The last two matches in particular, a pair of 2-1 victories over first Tottenham and then Wolves, were shaky affairs at best. In both, Liverpool’s opponents clawed back a goal after the Reds scored twice. In both, Liverpool looked
a mess once they did and can count themselves lucky not to have given up a second.
“That’s what football is,” manager Arne Slot said when asked about how his side has reacted to conceding. “A moment can change momentum and that’s what we saw last week. I think in both games until the moment we conceded it was the performance you would like from a Liverpool team.
“Although in an ideal world I see even more chances created, but goals have a massive impact on the momentum of a game and that’s what’s been shown in the last two games of ours for sure. A way to have game management is also to make substitutions—maybe to bring an extra defender in these kind of situations.
“Last year a lot of times when we were 2-1 up, or one goal up, I brought Wataru Endo on. I already said, and I don’t know if everybody notices it, but we are missing quite a lot of players. For me that’s why it’s so special that these players who are fit now, that they are still bringing these results in.”
Liverpool’s squad depth has been tested in recent weeks, and in a season where everything hadn’t gone quite so wrong in October and November the narrative might well be an injury-hit side battling to get results. October and November, though, can’t help but colour the lens through which everything now is seen.
At least for the time being. With another positive result on Thursday against Leeds and a solid January, the foundations might start to feel solid and the consensus deserve to shift. For now, though, it still feels as though we don’t quite know what this Liverpool side is—and what it’s trying to be.
