Liverpool may have stopped the bleeding, but the football over the past month has been anything but inspiring. Slow buildup, ponderous possession, and allowing the opposition to get back and set their
defence have become hallmarks of a side that appears terrified of making a mistake—and still regularly makes them.
A fear of turnovers and being hit on the break means any time these Reds have a chance to advance at pace they instead check back. Then, once the opposition has set their defence, there is both little movement by the players off the ball to create openings as well as little willingness by the players on it to try high risk passes.
The result is dull, low-event football, and while it has earned points at an admirable if not spectacular rate—at least in comparison to what was going on in October and November—you can feel the supporters deflate every time Liverpool move forward. And then stop. And then resort to toothlessly recycling possession.
“We’re not satisfied at all,” said Florian Wirtz of Sunday’s 2-2 draw at Fulham, a game that saw the Reds get to being up 2-1 late despite a largely uninspiring performance before getting hit by a 97th minute Fulham equalizer. “We wanted three points today. Especially how we came back, three points would was a must-have.
“But I think again we are in a bit of a difficult situation now because we drew two times—first at home and now today. And that’s not what we want. We want more. We have to get better but it’s still a process and hopefully next game we are there again, and I think the intensity we brought in the second half was better.”
Compared to the side on display in the first half of last season, and compared to the talent, Liverpool’s recent performances as well as results like Sunday’s simply aren’t good enough. Compared to what was on display in the first half of this season, back in October and November, at least this could be a solid foundation.
The question now is which way things go over the next month or two. If this is to be a useful foundation for a revived Liverpool, there now need to be signs of clear improvement—improved pressing, improved passing patterns, improved set-piece defending, and a willingness to confidently move forward on the break.
Longer-term, what we’re seeing now—what we saw on Sunday—is better than what we were seeing, but it’s an awfully long way from being good enough. Especially in the context of this being one of the most talented sides in world football and where this team, this squad, and this club were in the latter stages of 2024.
