Liverpool
Van Dijk: Liverpool Must Fix Habit of Failing to Follow Up Strong Performances
Van Dijk urges change as Liverpool struggle for consistency and face a tense run to secure top four.
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk delivered a clear warning after a damaging league defeat that followed a 4–0 midweek victory over Galatasaray. The sequence encapsulated the Reds’ defining problem this season: an inability to follow one good display with another.
“I said over the last months the same thing: We can’t build on a good performance,” Van Dijk said after the defeat. “That is something that has to change if we are to achieve what we are trying to achieve, and that is Champions League football.”
Van Dijk made the point that responsibility lies with the players. “It’s down to us and so we have to do it as players, as a group. If we change that, then obviously we can be a very dangerous force, but at the moment, we are not.”
That inconsistency helps explain why Liverpool sit fifth in the Premier League this season. The campaign has been affected by a slow start for blockbuster summer signings, a mountain of injuries and Mohamed Salah’s poor form. Yet the most troubling symptom remains how quickly the team can switch from confident, dominant performances to matches in which the side looks uncreative and vulnerable.
Recent months have offered repeated examples: commanding victories followed by baffling defeats. The club has collected just one point out of a possible nine in March, leaving a fraught final two months as Liverpool attempt to hold off Chelsea for the fifth and presumed final Champions League spot for English clubs next season.
Injuries are compounding the problem. Alexander Isak, Wataru Endō, Conor Bradley and Giovanni Leoni are long-term absentees. Mohamed Salah is nursing a muscular injury, Alisson is out for the foreseeable future, Hugo Ekitiké was forced off after eight minutes at the Amex Stadium and Federico Chiesa withdrew from Italy’s squad for the international break.
Losing Ekitiké at the weekend was notable in the context of the side’s attacking options. “When Hugo comes off, and you look at the team, there was not a lot of runs in behind,” Van Dijk explained.
The message from the captain was unambiguous: the pattern cannot continue if Liverpool are to reach their stated objective of Champions League football.
Feyenoord
Wirtz Says Salah’s Post Was ‘Honest’ as Liverpool Aim to Finish Strong
Florian Wirtz said: “Mo has known the club for a long time now,” and defended Salah’s post and more.
Florian Wirtz moved to calm a growing story around Mohamed Salah’s social media criticism of Liverpool’s style by explaining why he and several teammates felt comfortable publicly supporting the post. His remarks underline a dressing-room view at odds with how the episode was played up outside the club.
Salah wrote: “I want to see Liverpool go back to being the heavy metal attacking team that opponents fear and back to being a team that wins trophies,” Salah wrote. “That is the football I know how to play and that is the identity that needs to be recovered and kept for good. It cannot be negotiable and everyone that joins this club should adapt to it.”
Slot declined to comment on the post and would not confirm whether Salah would be involved in the season finale against Brentford on Sunday. Wirtz, though, offered a softer reading.
“Mo has known the club for a long time now,” Wirtz told The Athletic. “He’s just an honest guy. He says what he thinks. This should be O.K. If you want to speak, you should be able to speak. Of course, it was a bit of a difficult season for all of us, including Mo. In my opinion, it got made bigger than it was. I don’t think he attacked anyone.”
Pressed on why so many players had ‘liked’ Salah’s Instagram post, Wirtz said: “With the ‘likes’ players gave, I think it was made too big. For me, it was just a thing that he wanted to say because he’s leaving. He wanted to make everyone in the club alert that we have to work more and do better.
“We are all anything but happy with this season. I think we can still make a little bit out of it by qualifying for the Champions League on Sunday. We have to do that. Then in the summer, we need to clear our heads and attack next season, because we have a very good squad and we can do much better.”
Wirtz also rejected the idea of internal division: “The outside world is always trying to create something between the team and the manager,” Wirtz added. “But it’s totally different in this building. We are working well every day with this manager and his staff. There is no thought about not being behind the manager. This is just something [talked about] on the outside.”
Reports in the media have repeatedly debated Arne Slot’s future, but substantial coverage has concluded he will remain. Liverpool are reportedly set to reunite Slot with his former set-piece coach Etiënne Reijnen, who has told colleagues at Feyenoord he will join ahead of the 2026–27 season. Reijnen, who played alongside Slot at PEC Zwolle and later coached at Feyenoord, helped his side concede just 17 goals from dead balls across three seasons, the best record in the division. Only PSV have scored more from set pieces over the same period.
Liverpool
Slot Declines to Confirm Salah Selection After Forward’s Public Critique
Slot refused to say if Salah will play after the forward criticised Liverpool’s attacking style. era
Arne Slot declined to confirm whether Mohamed Salah has already played his last game for Liverpool after the forward posted on X following the defeat by Aston Villa. The post referenced the club’s former attacking approach and called for a return to that identity.
Salah wrote: “That is the identity that needs to be recovered and kept for good. It cannot be negotiable and everyone that joins this club should adapt to it.” The message was widely interpreted as a criticism of the manager’s changes to Liverpool’s style this season and has divided players, supporters and club figures. Ex-Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney went in hard on Salah.
Slot sought to keep focus on the result ahead of Sunday’s home match with Brentford, a game that will determine Liverpool’s Champions League fate. A draw or better will secure qualification, while defeat would leave them vulnerable to being leapfrogged by Bournemouth if the Cherries beat Nottingham Forest. Only goal difference would separate them.
On selection and the fallout from Salah’s comments, Slot said: “I don’t think it is important what I feel,” adding: “What is [important] is we qualify for the Champions League . I prepare Mo and the rest of the team to be ready.” He stressed a shared objective with the forward: “We want the club to be successful.”
Slot also referenced last season’s success and the standards expected this term. “We were both part of giving the fans the title last year and we haven’t brought that same level this year. What we all want is to be the same success as last season. Will he play? I never say anything about team selection, so I won’t do that now. A lot of ifs but we know what we need Sunday.”
Slot suggested the manager-player relationship and training had shown no obvious disruption this week, but he kept team selection private until matchday.
Liverpool
Liverpool match unwanted 20-defeat mark as season heads to final test
Liverpool have equalled a 20-defeat season for only the second time in the Premier League era. 2026.
Liverpool endured another heavy defeat on Friday as Aston Villa dismantled them away from home, taking the club to a 20th loss across all competitions this season. That result means Liverpool have matched an unwanted record in the Premier League era, a low only seen once before.
The Reds can still set a new mark when they meet Brentford in the Premier League finale this weekend. A defeat to Brentford would produce a 21st loss and, if it happens, it would be the first time since the 1953-54 campaign that Liverpool have lost more than 20 matches in a single season. In that 1953-54 term Liverpool lost 24 of their 43 games; those results came before organized European competition existed.
The last campaign in which Liverpool lost 20 matches across all competitions was 1992-93 under Graeme Souness. That season began poorly with a defeat in the Community Shield and included a chaotic 4-3 loss to Leeds United at Wembley. Liverpool finished sixth in the Premier League in 1992-93, recorded early exits from both domestic cup competitions and were knocked out of the European Cup Winners’ Cup in the second round.
The 2025-26 season statistics underline how difficult this term has been. The current campaign has produced 56 matches, 28 wins, 8 draws, 20 defeats, 102 goals scored and 80 conceded, yielding a plus 22 goal difference. By comparison, the 1992-93 figures were 55 matches, 20 wins, 15 draws, 20 defeats, 90 goals scored and 79 conceded.
Speculation over the manager’s future continues. It remains to be seen whether Slot will survive such a turbulent campaign, although current indicators point to Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group keeping him in place for the beginning of the 2026-27 campaign at least. The decision is one that the majority of supporters are unhappy about.
