Although Liverpool's form this season has not been really impressive, assigning all of the team's problems to coach Arne Slot is an unfair assessment.
Despite spending big in the summer of 2025, The Kop's squad still lacks depth and balance compared to the leader Arsenal - the most promising candidate for the current championship. In defense, Crystal Palace's deal to chase centre-back Marc Guehi on the last day of the transfer window is becoming a big regret. Especially when neither Ibrahima Konate nor captain Virgil van Dijk have maintained their high form, while rookie Giovanni Leoni has to take a long break due to an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
Crystal Palace president Steve Parish initially accepted Liverpool's £35 million offer and allowed Guehi to undergo a medical examination. However, the deal fell through at the last minute when Palace could not find a replacement. In fact, if Liverpool had acted earlier in the transfer window, this scenario probably wouldn't have happened.
Up front, Liverpool seemed to lack pace and sharpness on the wings. The decision to accept Luis Diaz's departure for 75 million Euros - in the context that he has scored 12 goals for Bayern Munich this season - now becomes even more unjustified. Liverpool initially did not want to part with the Colombian, having rejected Barcelona's offer at the beginning of the transfer window, before eventually accepting a price from Bayern.
According to British media, Diaz is determined to leave Anfield after expressing his desire to find a new challenge from the summer of 2024. With that mentality, collecting a large fee for a player about to turn 29 is business-reasonable. However, not including an equivalent replacement has clearly affected Liverpool's attacking power this season.
Anfield insider said the board were concerned that the signing of an experienced left winger could slow the development of youngster Rio Ngumoha, who scored the winning goal in the 3-2 win over Newcastle United in August. However, the fact that the 17-year-old has only played a total of 41 minutes in the Premier League since then shows that he is still too inexperienced to become a regular starts at the highest level.
Liverpool's striker struggles could have been less serious if Alexander Isak had shone right at Merseyside following a controversial £125m transfer deal from Newcastle. However, the 26-year-old striker is paying the price for the decision to attack his former club to let him go, and is struggling with both form and fitness at Liverpool.
Sources close to Liverpool's recruitment team say that internal data shows that strikers rarely recover their form after a poor first season at their new clubs. However, Roberto Firmino's arduous journey to find his first goal when he moved from Hoffenheim in 2015 - spending 14 games "shooting" and scoring just one goal in his first 25 appearances - shows that there are still notable exceptions after a difficult adaptation period.
Of course, amidst the myriad of tactical and form problems, it should be reiterated that Slot is leading the team through an unimaginable tragedy. That was the sudden death of beloved striker Diogo Jota in the summer. The Dutch strategist always emphasized that he and his players did not want to use that tragedy as an excuse, but although it cannot be specifically measured, the mental impact of this loss cannot be ignored.
Mohamed Salah - who is in decline and becoming one of Slot's most difficult problems - burst into tears on the pitch after the opening win of the season against Bournemouth at Anfield. Defender Andy Robertson could not hide his emotions when mentioning Jota after helping Scotland qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
That reality does not exempt Slot and his players from being held accountable for their poor performances since the start of the season, but it shows a much more complex context than what the rankings show. Therefore, the debates over Slot's future have become much more intense and uncomfortable.
