Liverpool have mostly had good results this season despite sub-par performances, but that clearly isn’t sustainable.
Liverpool haven’t played especially good football across the opening two months of the 2025-26 season. Based on the squad, the club’s summer business, and their status as defending Premier League champions they have fallen short of hope and expectation. This is not a controversial statement.
Despite that, until this past week the results have been there. This is a side, it’s worth remembering, who are still top of the Premier League table. They’ve advanced in the League Cup. They’re still well positioned with a win and, following Tuesday night’s Galatasaray defeat, loss in the Champions League.
“We have to keep working, keep improving and keep going at it and stick together,” said captain Virgil van Dijk following Tuesday’s defeat at Galatasaray. “We had a fantastic year last year, had a good start in terms of the points tally this season, good moments during the games we’ve played so far.
“Obviously losing twice in a row doesn’t feel good and that’s what we have to improve. I hate losing and there shouldn’t be panic, but there is definitely improvement needed. I think it was a step-up from the [Palace loss], but that was not really too difficult because on the weekend it was just bad.
“Now we have to convert chances, don’t give a penalty away, don’t make silly mistakes at times. It’s far easier to say these things than to actually make it happen, but it’s a process and we have to keep going. We keep working, stick together and move onto the next one. That’s all we can focus on.”
The narrative to start the season was Liverpool weren’t playing well but still getting results—so everyone had best watch out for when they did start playing well. The last two games, Tuesday’s defeat coming after a weekend loss to Crystal Palace in the league, highlighted the unsustainability of their start.
It didn’t change it, though; didn’t change that this group, on paper, deservedly entered the season favourites to defend that league title and make a run at winning the Champions League. This Liverpool side are still very much top of the table. But they will need to show who they really are, and soon.
Category: General Sports
