Liverpool\u2019s 2025\/26 campaign has been defined by a steady deterioration rather than a single collapse. The club suffered its 20th defeat after being outfought and outclassed by Aston Villa, and supporters now face a trip to Brentford next weekend as frustration builds.<\/p>\n
Last summer\u2019s transfer activity \u2014 a reported spend of over $600 million and seven first-team additions \u2014 was widely celebrated as ‘winning the transfer window’. The recruits included high-profile names such as Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, yet the squad has failed to function as a cohesive unit. Of those seven arrivals, only Hugo Ekitik\u00e9 can be considered an undisputed success. Wirtz and Isak have floundered and new full backs have struggled to settle.<\/p>\n
To finance the business, Liverpool allowed several familiar figures to depart. Luis D\u00edaz\u2019s exit is described here as an unnecessary gamble, while the departures of Jarell Quansah and Darwin N\u00fa\u00f1ez have left voids. The tragic death of Diogo Jota also altered the group, and Trent Alexander-Arnold\u2019s absence has been felt.<\/p>\n
The burden fell heavily on Mohamed Salah after his extraordinary 29-goal, 18-assist league season the year before. This term Salah has produced just 13 goal involvements in the Premier League, 14 fewer than his next worst Liverpool season (2020\u201321). Only Ekitik\u00e9 has contributed to more Premier League goals than Salah this season, and Wirtz and Isak have combined for just 12. Few teammates have stepped up.<\/p>\n
Liverpool\u2019s defence has been exposed all season. After the Villa defeat the side had conceded 52 league goals, the most in any 38-game Premier League season for the club, and 77 in all competitions, the second-most in the Premier League era. Injuries to Alisson, Ibrahima Konat\u00e9\u2019s loss of form amid exit rumours, Virgil van Dijk\u2019s slump, Milos Kerkez\u2019s struggles and persistent right-back problems have compounded the issues. Slot\u2019s attempts to steady the backline have not succeeded.<\/p>\n
The team\u2019s identity has also shifted. Klopp popularized the term ‘gegenpressing’ in Liverpool\u2019s recent history, but under Arne Slot a more measured, technical approach has replaced industrious profiles. That change has cost intensity and cohesion and left the side too easy to play through. Patience with Slot among supporters has evaporated as performances and results continue to dip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Assessing Liverpool’s 2025\/26 collapse: transfers, injuries, Salah’s decline and defensive frailties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13846,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175,172],"tags":[1505,195,299],"class_list":["post-13847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liverpool","category-epl","tag-accountability","tag-alexander-isak","tag-arne-slot"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}