Liverpool's Season Analysis: Injuries, Performance, and Chelsea Clash
Arne Slot walked into the media room at Kirkby with his season laid bare in front of him. Three league games left, Champions League qualification still not secure, a fanbase restless, and Chelsea coming to Anfield on Saturday lunchtime.
What he offered was not defiance. It was something closer to realism.
Injuries: hope, but not for everyone
The headline news came quickly. Alexander-Arnold is back on the grass.
“Alex trained with us again yesterday for the first time,” Slot confirmed. “All good. He did parts of it, hopefully he can do parts or everything today and we see how much we are going to use him.”
For a side that has lost rhythm and control too often, the prospect of their playmaker from right-back even making the squad is significant.
Behind him, the goalkeeping picture is shifting. Alisson remains out, but there was a notable step forward elsewhere.
“Alisson not yet, Giorgi today for first time,” Slot said, with Mamardashvili finally joining in after his lay-off. Mohamed Salah sits in the same bracket as Alisson: “Mo is very very close like Ali.”
There were minor concerns too. Ibrahima Konaté missed Wednesday’s session for personal reasons but has since trained, while Florian Wirtz – unwell earlier in the week – is also back in the group.
One name was conspicuous by its distance from a return: Conor Bradley.
“In the rehab it's always important if some steps go well,” Slot explained. “It's really difficult in the stage he's in now to predict when he will be back. He's still inside and working really hard but he is quite far away from going outside, that makes it quite complicated to tell.”
No timelines. No promises. Just the reality of a player still stuck indoors while the season races to its conclusion.
A season that won’t be rescued by three wins
Slot did not try to dress up what has happened in the Premier League.
“The performance clearly in the Premier League we didn't pick up the points we should have,” he said. “We haven't had a very good season in the Premier League but we've played better and not got the points we should have.”
The contrast with Europe is stark in his mind.
“In the Champions League we played to our standard. Over two games, no club has been able to beat PSG in the last two years. We could have gone close at Anfield if VAR hadn't overturned an award (of a penalty) it usually doesn't.”
That sense of frustration runs through his view of the run-in. Even a perfect finish, he knows, will not wash away the stains of the campaign.
“This season has been gone in a way that even if we have three wins and positive performances, I don't think anyone will be positive about the season,” he admitted. “It's important we get at least one win over the line which might be enough. We are trying to do it in the best possible way, performance-wise.”
He is under no illusion about the scale of the job beyond May.
“Three wins won't silence the criticism. Therefore we need to have a much longer run of result and performances.”
Belief, mentality and a dressing room under strain
Lose more than you are used to at Liverpool and it leaves a mark. Slot knows that.
“It always weighs heavy on players if you lose more games than you would want, especially at a club like this. These players are used to winning.”
He rejects the idea that this is about age or a generational shift in mentality.
“For me mentality has nothing to do with age,” he said. “When Mo was 26 and these players were in their prime they won CL and got PL with 99 points.”
He pointed to PSG as a recent example of a young group setting elite standards: “players who aren't that old at PSG but have the standards to win a game with 11 players attacking and defending together.”
The key, as he sees it, lies in personality and recruitment.
“It's more about the personality of the player than the age. Of course you can inject it in the transfer market but we have a lot of players who have the right mentality to play for this club.”
What about the bond inside the squad, with so many changes over the last two summers?
“There's a difference between bonding and mentality,” Slot said. “When it comes to bonding it makes sense players who have had 6, 7, 8 years together have stronger than new players coming together.”
The togetherness of the old core cannot be replicated overnight. The expectation, though, remains the same.
Another transition – but not another overhaul
Slot is already looking beyond this campaign. He spoke openly about next season likely bringing more change, though nothing like the churn of last summer.
“There will probably be another little transition but not as drastic as last year,” he said. “One player probably replaced by Kostas Tsimikas who is coming back off loan.”
If that sounds like a manager bracing for more movement, he did not present it as a problem.
“I'm only looking forward to it so I'm not worried at all. As I looked forward to working with these players two years ago and one year ago. As a manager you're never worried, you're just looking forward to working with players.”
The message: evolution, not revolution. But still, evolution.
Control, counters and the missing goals
Tactically, Slot cut through the analysis with a blunt assessment: Liverpool have been vulnerable in too many ways, and not clinical enough to cover it.
“In moments we have been vulnerable at counter-attacks. Not like we've conceded loads. At Manchester we conceded two. But that's not the only thing we've been vulnerable at. There are too many we have been at moments.”
The solution, in his eyes, starts at the other end of the pitch.
“It would help if we scored more goals. Easier to control a game at 1-0 up than 1-0 down or 1-1. It's very clear and obvious where we have to improve, it's something we've tried to address throughout the season with ups and downs and will be something we will look at in the summer, first in the market then the training ground.”
The pattern of the season has become familiar: good performances without the results to match.
“Usually goes hand in hand, good performance leads to results,” he said of the final three fixtures. “We have shown this season we need a good performance to get results. The opposite has happened where we've had good performances and not a good result, and we've not often had a bad performance and a good result. We usually need a good performance to win a game.”
The demand, then, is simple and unforgiving: play well, or pay.
Chelsea next, and no room for illusions
Chelsea arrive at Anfield on a dreadful run, six straight defeats stripping the edge off what once looked like a direct shootout for a Champions League place. Slot will not touch the idea of an easy afternoon.
“If our information is correct then they will have a few players back to make them stronger. That will be massive for them,” he warned. “Always a difficult game for both teams. Lot of very good individual players, let's hope we have a very good team performance as well.”
He has tracked the changes in the away dugout too.
“All managers have their own idea about football, they've had three this season. Current manager is closer to what Maresca usually did, so has a very clear identity how they play. Clear what to expect. Usually three centre-backs.”
So the picture is clear. A Chelsea side regaining important players. A Liverpool team trying to drag itself over the line, with key figures edging back but not yet fully ready.
The stakes, though, remain high. One win “might be enough” for the Champions League place Slot wants secured, but he knows that will not define how this season is remembered.
The real judgment comes next year, when this “little transition” either hardens into a new Liverpool, or exposes just how far they still have to go.
