Coach Arne Slot has dismissed the opinion that Liverpool's Carabao Cup final loss to Newcastle was due to fatigue. He said it had nothing to do with running at his post-match press conference. Instead, Slot stressed Liverpool's failure to win in one-on-one matches.
However, in the challenges, the Kop players showed their fatigue. In the past two weeks, their winning rates in one-on-one disputes have decreased significantly. This problem was most clearly demonstrated in the away match against Paris St Germain, when Liverpool only won 32.5% of their disputes. This is the club's lowest success rate in history in the Champions League.
In the return match at Anfield and the match against Newcastle at Wembley, their success rate was 42.7%, down sharply from the average of more than 50% in the first half of the season.
Before entering the new year 2025, Liverpool had won more than 50% of their doubles matches in 9/18 matches. They have only done so in 2/11 of their next matches. Slot may not admit it, but his side have lost their physical advantage.
Fortunately for Slot, this problem did not affect their results in the Premier League. Liverpool are still unbeaten since a 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest last September. The 12-point gap over Arsenal still allows them to take the initiative in hand.
That alone is enough to create Slot's glorious first season at Anfield. Few people thought his Liverpool would win the Premier League in August. But if Slot wants to repeat his success next season and go further in the cup competitions, he will need to keep the lessons from the decline in mind. Fatigue is always a problem.
Slot could argue that, for some legitimate reasons, his conservative approach to rotation has helped Liverpool build their dominance in the Premier League. The Dutch strategist has relied heavily on his best players, that's true. However, there are still questions about the sustainability of this approach. And the recent decline of the "Red Brigade" has highlighted its limitations.
Liverpool's average of 1.76 changes to their squad per game is the 7th lowest in the Premier League this season and makes them an exception compared to recent champions. The last 7 teams to win the championship, since Manchester City in the 2017-2018 season, have an average of 2.79 changes to their squad per match.
Those teams could have stayed young until the end of the game, but Liverpool are now showing a physical overload. Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah, Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister all played more than 3,000 minutes. Behind them, many other players of The Kop also had impressive playing time.
In fact, Dominik Szoboszlai, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson, Luis Diaz and Ibrahima Konate are also close to reaching that threshold. Liverpool have nine names in the top 50 for Premier League minutes played in all competitions this season. And apart from The Kop, no team has more than 6 players on that list.
Some players like Salah and Van Dijk are used to such a heavy amount of work. But even they can't help but feel tired as their form gradually declines. Other people at Anfield are experiencing that for the first time.
Gravenberch's minutes of play have increased to 46% this season. In the remaining 2 months of the campaign, Konate played more minutes than the entire last season. Mac Allister is also on track to surpass his minutes total last season.
All of those players, like Van Dijk and even Salah, have been slow and struggled to maintain consistency in the second half of the season.
It is no coincidence that the reserve elements of The Kop have made great contributions in recent weeks. The reason is that they have a rich physical foundation and freshness, something that Salah or Van Dijk do not have.
Liverpool's decisive goal in Paris was Darwin Nunez's assist for Harvey Elliott. Their substitutes also combined to score at Wembley, when Elliott passed the ball to Federico Chiesa to score.
However, Elliott has only played 583 minutes in all competitions this season, down from 2,786 minutes last season. Chiesa, meanwhile, has been on the bench for just 387 minutes since his move from Juventus last August.
