There is a moment from last season that I remember vividly. Andy Robertson had been sent off earlier in the game against Fulham, with the Reds falling behind six minutes prior to that thanks to a goal from Andreas Pereira. The London club went in 1-0 to the good at half-time, but Arne Slot kept tweaking and tinkering with our formation and tactics to get us back into the game. Straight after the break, Cody Gakpo made it 1-1, only for Rodrigo Muniz to restore Fulham’s lead 20 minutes later. Slot, though, refused to accept defeat, making changes and alterations to the point that we wrestled our way back on top and drew level through Diogo Jota. In the end, the Reds were the better team and probably deserved to win, in spite of the fact that we’d been down to ten men for well over an hour. The reason the match stood out to me was that I thought that it outlined just how good a manager Slot was, refusing to admit that he was beaten, even whilst the odds were stacked against him and his team, fighting until the very end of the game.
Liverpool showed great spirit to earn a 2-2 draw against Fulham after Andrew Robertson was sent off early. It really felt like a late winner was coming and it nearly did. So close.
— Seán Hartnett (@seanlikessports.bsky.social) 14 December 2024 at 17:04
The reason I mention that is that I have consistently refused to believe that a manager with that level of talent and ability, who went on to win the Premier League title at the first time of asking, can simply fall off a cliff in terms of what he can offer the club. There are many who feel as though the Reds have been ‘poor’ since the turn of 2025, but I don’t think the reality of things backs that up. Is Arne Slot a manager who is stubborn when it comes to certain aspects of how he wants his team to play? Absolutely. Show me a manager who isn’t stubborn and I’ll show you one who isn’t very good. In order to manage at the top of the game, these people have to have a conviction around what they’re doing. The important thing is that he’s willing to change and adapt, even if it takes him a while to get there. I know the argument that he won the title because it was ‘Klopp’s team’, in spite of the fact that Jürgen didn’t win it with the same players, but one of the men on the shortlist to replace the German was Thomas Frank. Would he have won the title?
Two Swallows Don’t Make a Summer
One swallow doesn’t make a summer, as the old saying goes, so we absolutely need to be very careful about making assumptions when it comes to where Liverpool are at after just two decent results. At the same time, I think it’s ok to look at how we performed against both Sunderland and Brighton & Hove Albion and ask the questions as to whether or not the Reds have started to turn a corner. It is also worth bearing in mind that we recently defeated Qarabag 6-0 and came from a goal behind against Newcastle United to win 4-1 against them, so there have been signs of better displays coming. Yes, the loss to Manchester City was frustrating, especially after taking the lead so late on, but the team with 130 charges of financial impropriety to its name can do that sort of thing to anyone. In a season that has featured an understandable inability to recover from setbacks, the players could have reacted badly to the manner of the defeat against Pep Guardiola’s men. The visit to Sunderland was one that almost every Liverpool supporter was dreading.
Sunderland were unbeaten in 12 home Premier League games before tonight.
That’s the longest unbeaten home run Liverpool have ended in the Premier League since February 2023 when they beat Newcastle, who were also unbeaten in 12. #LFC
— Michael Reid (@michaelreid.bsky.social) 11 February 2026 at 22:20
Instead, the Reds put in arguably one of the best performances of the season, doing what no other team in the top-flight could do when they ran out 1-0 winners and emerged from the Stadium of Light with all three points. It isn’t just that we won against a difficult opponent, but that we did so in quite convincing fashion. Yes, the home side had chances, but they weren’t really high value, with Liverpool holding them at arm’s length throughout. I have seen some people suggest that we played ‘poorly’ against Brighton, but I’m not convinced that that is true. You have to remember that other teams have a degree of agency and that the South Coast club turned up at Anfield with a plan. Sure, they were playing teenagers in attack instead of the likes of Danny Welbeck, but it’s easy to forget that young players can sometimes punish you because they’re eager to prove a point. We could’ve lost our heads in the Sunderland game having lost Wataro Endō to an awful injury, but instead we played with intelligence and conviction and made sure we’re in the hat for the next round.
The Proof Will be in the Pudding of the Next Few Weeks
To carry on my use of idioms, whether or not Liverpool have turned a corner is a pudding that the proof of which will be in the eating. Over the next eight game weeks, we have got Nottingham Forest, West Ham United, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Tottenham Hotspur, Brighton & Hove Albion, Fulham, Everton and Crystal Palace. Yes, there are some tricky teams in there, not the least of which is a Forest team that Slot hasn’t yet defeated as a coach. They are on their fourth manager of the season, however, so it’s fair to say that they aren’t in the best of places. Spurs are similarly in a state of flux, having sacked Thomas Frank, whilst the aura of the Hill Dickinson Stadium has well and truly lost its lustre in recent weeks. I am not suggesting that we will emerge from those eight games with maximum points, if for no other reason than the longest run of wins that we put together in the Premier League last season was four. If we can remain undefeated with more wins than draws and defeats put together, however, then that will do for me.
Florian Wirtz recorded just three goal involvements in his first 21 games for Liverpool, all assists.
Since then, he has nine in his last 11 outings (6 goals, 3 assists), more than anyone from the Premier League in all competitions.
#LFC
— Opta Analyst (@optaanalyst.optajoe.com) 5 February 2026 at 17:07
The thing that I have been most encouraged by is the fact that we’ve looked much like our old selves in the last couple of matches. Mo Salah, for example, has been a lot more involved, even if he’s still not been passing the ball as well as in the past. That being said, his ball for Dominic Szoboszlai’s goal against Brighton was absolutely superb and capped off a brilliant team move. The passing of Diogo Jota will be remembered as being the biggest influence on Liverpool this season, at least by those of us that haven’t decided to pretend it never happened. Both the manager and his players have struggled to find their feet throughout the past seven months, for entirely understandable reasons, but it seemed to me when watching the two games in question that it felt a little bit like a cloud had been lifted from the players’ shoulders. They will never feel quite right playing football matches, I can well imagine, but hopefully they’re feeling as though it’s okay for them to start to enjoy themselves a little bit without it being felt like a slight on Jota’s memory.
