Arne Slot\u2019s second season in charge has exposed a performance drop that goes beyond results. Liverpool, who dominated the previous Premier League campaign, now look a diminished version of that team as their intensity has faded across the pitch.<\/p>\n
The club abandoned its usual transfer restraint in the summer, spending on high-profile recruits and recording a Premier League transfer bill of just under \u00a3450 million. That investment has not translated into progress. A heavy defeat at Manchester City before the international break felt emblematic of a wider malaise, and Liverpool sit eight points behind league leaders Arsenal with few signs of immediate recovery.<\/p>\n
One statistic crystallises the problem. According to The Times, Liverpool averaged 177 presses per match in 2024\u201325. In 2025\u201326 so far they are averaging 141 presses per match, a reduction of 20.4% year on year. That drop of 36 presses per game has left their pressing numbers the lowest in the Premier League this season.<\/p>\n
Arsenal, by comparison, average 147 presses per match and remain top of the table while pressing at roughly the same rate as last season. Liverpool\u2019s reduction is the second-largest in the division, behind Crystal Palace, who have already beaten the Reds three times this season.<\/p>\n
The practical effect of the lost intensity is clear. Liverpool have struggled to cope with the directness and physical urgency of opponents, operating with a fraction of the vigour that defined them in recent years. Reduced pressure on the ball has made them simpler to play through and more vulnerable to direct passes in behind the defence.<\/p>\n
For Slot and his coaching staff, the decline in pressing is a worrying metric. Given that intensity has been a foundation of the club\u2019s success over the past decade, restoring that attribute will be essential if Liverpool are to close the gap on the leaders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Liverpool’s presses have fallen from 177 to 141 per match, a 20.4% drop in intensity, for Slot staff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4464,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230,175,172],"tags":[1162,299],"class_list":["post-4465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analytics-stats","category-liverpool","category-epl","tag-analytics","tag-arne-slot"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4465","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=4465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}