How you’re feeling about Liverpool’s start to their Premier League campaign could arguably be used as some sort of psychological test. On the one hand, we sit at the top of the table, having won all four of our matches. On the other, we haven’t looked particularly convincing in any of the games that we’ve played and some of the new players look a little bit lost. It was Bill Shankly who once said, “Ay, here we are with problems at the top of the league”, and that is a quote that fits very well here. The overall opinion of most supporters is that the rest of the league will be in trouble once we actually start to hit our stride. That might be right, but there is a counter-argument that we will be in trouble if our luck runs out. For his part, Arne Slot might well be pondering over that old adage that it’s better to be lucky than good, even if the reality is that he seems to be both of those things at the moment. On paper, the Reds couldn’t have started this season any better than they have.
Not buying the idea that Liverpool were poor yesterday. It’s just not easy playing against a team who are so compact they can all hold hands.
— TheCenci (@thecenci.bsky.social) 15 September 2025 at 10:45
Does it say a lot about me, then, that I’m slightly concerned? I don’t actually think we played that badly against Burnley. Yes, they are a newly promoted side and you can’t be a serious title challenger and drop points to teams that are brand new to the division. That being said, they conceded just 16 goals in the Championship last season and didn’t lose at home once, conceding a mere eight times at Turf Moor. In other words, they are a team that knows how to defend and the idea that Liverpool were just going to rock up and blow them away was naive at best. Even so, I can’t help but escape the idea that we are in a position whereby if we’d been said on four points right now instead of 12, without much different happening in all of the matches, we couldn’t complain. Between our defensive frailties in the opening couple of matches and our inability to break down stubborn defences, opposition sides have now got some idea how to get the better of us.
Salah Out of Sorts
It goes without saying that I adore Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian King isn’t just a tremendous player, he also seems like a thoroughly decent bloke too. He has been the most important player in the trophy-winning era, so I don’t want this to feel like I’m turning on him, having had my knives drawn for years. The man himself would also be quick to point out that he’s scored two and got an assist, so it’s not as if he’s a complete waste of a shirt. The problem is, he hasn’t looked right in any of the four matches that we’ve played so far. The things that he tried last season and pulled off with aplomb simply aren’t working, whilst even the most basic of manoeuvres don’t seem to be coming off for him. Initially, I put it down to a lack of understanding between him and Jeremie Frimpong, but the Dutch player hasn’t been part of the team for the last couple of games, albeit coming on late on against Burnley, yet Salah still hasn’t looked right. I can’t pretend that I’m not worried.
4 – Liverpool are the first side in Premier League history to win four consecutive games thanks to winning goals scored in the final 10 minutes or later. Spirit.
— OptaJoe (@optajoe.com) 14 September 2025 at 16:11
I do think that the elephant in the room over Salah’s start to the 2025-2026 campaign comes in the form of Diogo Jota. The Portuguese player’s passing in the summer unquestionably hit the world of football hard and Liverpool’s squad in particular. I can’t help but feel that Salah has been the most affected of everyone, though. We have already seen the Egyptian winger’s emotion pour out as he stood looking at the Kop singing his former teammate’s name. No one could blame him for struggling to find his form again on the back of such a devastating loss and emotional shock. Hopefully, he is getting the help that he needs from the people around him. On the pitch, things aren’t clicking for him, but I don’t think the manager feels like he can take him off. That makes complete sense, given the fact that he proved yesterday that he’s got nerves of steel. I’ll confess that I didn’t think he should take the penalty, given how badly he’d played, but he showed exactly why he’s the man for the big occasion.
New Players Not Gelling Yet
If you’ve read any of the work of Paul Tomkins, you will know that new players tend to struggle to adapt to their new surroundings, often not hitting their stride until their second season at a football club. It is far from ideal, therefore, that we made so many changes this summer. The backline had had two new full-backs introduced even before Dominik Szoboszlai was forced into service at right-back. Whilst I think that Florian Wirtz has shown some moments of magic, it would be untrue to suggest that he’s looked like a £100 million-plus player during his time on the pitch. As always with new players, we’ve bought him for five years, not five weeks, but I would like to see him hitting his stride sooner rather than later. The same is true of Milos Kerkez, who has looked a bit like a fish out of water at times. The dive yesterday wasn’t just embarrassing, it was entirely unnecessary given the fact that it looked like he was well-placed to reach the ball anyway.
Does anyone else have concerns over Wirtz? Because right now I think we look stronger with Dom In the 10 and one of our full backs playing right back when they’re fit. It’s only 4 games in but Dom is a hard man to drop along with Macca.
As Andy Robertson has since pointed out, he’s a young player and it will take him time to adjust. The only new signing who doesn’t look like he’s struggling to adapt to his new surroundings is Hugo Ekitike, who has performed well so far. I’m excited to see how he interacts with Alexander Isak once the Swedish international is fit enough to start games. I’d even argue that he looked the best out of the frontline yesterday, given Cody Gakpo’s propensity to repeatedly cut inside and shoot, no matter the options around him. There were times when we looked rather brainless going forward, which is not something new for some of these players. It is the recent signings that I can offer a degree of forgiveness to, though, rather than the ones that have now been with us for several years. The manager did well to change things from the bench yet again, but I’d be much happier if we could just start winning games comfortably, as he asked for in the summer, rather than requiring late show after late show.
