2024-25 was the season of Liverpool in the English top flight. Having wrapped up the season in April, the Reds had more than enough to look up to for the new season. Stellar performances from Mohammed Salah, Van Dijk, Alisson, Mac Allister were enough for the club to secure their 20th league title.
Despite such a successful league season, where they broke Manchester City’s dominance, Liverpool had a few places to ponder upon. Except for the league, the club did not manage to win any more trophies. The club got knocked out of the Ro16 by PSG after a successful league stage. They lost their FA Cup tie to Plymouth and lost the Carabao Cup final to Newcastle United.
With Arne Slot achieving a wonderful feat in his debut season with the club, the board entrusted him and decided to provide him with the best signings for the new season. Darwin Nunez was one of the first departures along with homegrown boy Trent Alexander-Arnold. The club wasted no time in bringing new signings. Not just signings, but proven stars from across the continent. Florian Wirtz joined for a record deal from Bayer Leverkusen along with right back Jeremie Frimpong. In order to strengthen their attack, Liverpool spent 90 million on Hugo Ekitike from Eintracht Frankfurt. With weeks of negotiations and delays, the club finally managed to sign Swedish star Alexander Isak from Newcastle United breaking their own record of the most expensive British transfer fee. Milos Kerkez was one of other key signings by the club.
With the new season around the corner, no team in Europe was as hyped and poised to sweep all the major titles available. A successful team with a league title and additional stars, a treble was the least on every fans mind. Pundits and bets were tipping them to complete a historic quadruple, the first ever in English football history. Liverpool’s first match was the Community Shield final against Crystal Palace, which sadly ended in a defeat during penalties. The London club won their second trophy in the space of a few months and had just given the English giants a taste of what could follow.
The Merseyside club won all five of their opening matches. They even managed to kickstart their UCL campaign with a 3-2 win at home over Atletico Madrid. All this indicated a perfect start for a team with such high expectations, though there was one loose end in all these wins. The team always managed to get a win by scoring goals in added time with the match inching to a draw.
The same tactics came back to haunt the team as they started losing regularly and went a complete month without recording a single win. The club lost to Manchester United at Anfield after a decade and got humiliated by City 3-0 at the Etihad. A loss to Chelsea in midst of the chaos, pushed them further down the points table. As of January, the club sit 6th in the Premier League, with 3 draws and a loss to start the new year. Their story in the UCL is astonishing. They lost to Galatassaray and PSV Eindhoven, but managed to beat heavyweights like Real Madrid and Inter Milan.
But what is the reason behind Liverpool’s sudden fall from grace? From being tagged as “favourites” for a treble, to waiting for a miracle to win matches. Maybe the side effects were visible in the past season, but were ignored by everyone due to the Premier League title. With all due respect to the hard work put in by the players, manager and technical staff, one of the main reasons the Merseyside club emerged victorious was the poor form of its competitors.
Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspurs were languishing at the bottom half of the table. Chelsea had some hits and major misses, whereas the biggest threat Manchester City were completely out of form and poor throughout the season. The only competition, Arsenal were going deep in the UCL, facing Real Madrid and PSG until the semi-finals. Therefore the club was forced to rest its players for matches and had to deal with injuries as well. On the other hand, Liverpool had built an amazing lead in the first half of the season. By mid March, the club was eliminated from all competitions and only had the Premier League to concentrate on. Hence the club managed to seal the title as early as a month before the trophy celebrations.
Another moment of weakness for the club was Salah’s performance. The Egyptian legend was flawless and put up a season for the history books as he won the Premier League golden boot and PFA player of the season award. His amazing stats were giving him Ballon D’or shouts as early as January. During the team’s clash against PSG, Nuno Mendes completely locked in Salah and hence the team’s main goal creating threat was completely jammed. Despite the tie reaching a penalty shootout after 2 legs, the Parisian outfit were clearly dominant and the match felt like a one sided affair. A few days later, during the Carabao Cup final, Salah once again struggled, which led to the team’s 2-1 loss to Newcastle. It was once again highlighted how overdependent the team was on Salah and how a bad day for the player became a deciding factor in the team’s season.
Coming to the new season’s struggles, the club can be said to be facing multiple crises. Mohammed Salah had a fallout with manager Slot, which was resolved at the earliest, but the player’s form has taken a total hit. Captain Virgil Van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate, who were touted as the best centre-back duo last season, have completely lost their form and have repeatedly committed the same errors. Alisson, who was a pillar between the sticks, has been dealing with injuries. The absence of Trent Alexander at right-back is clearly visible after his controversial move to Real Madrid. The team is struggling to create chances and Frimpong and Kerkez have not been able to step up for the challenge.
The new signings have been dealing with their own setbacks. The sad truth about modern football is the heavy price tag that follows them. Florian Wirtz had to toil for months to get his first goal contribution as the huge transfer fee loomed heavy on him. Alexander Isak was not able to make his debut until late as he missed pre-season and had to wait to gain full fitness. Despite making his debut and scoring a goal against Tottenham Hotspur, he suffered a serious injury and was once again sidelined for a prolonged period of time. Hugo Ekitike has been the only signing who has been able to perform consistently.
For multiple supporters it is believed that Liverpool’s past season success should be credited to Jurgen Klopp as it was the team and players assembled by him. The current team is Arne Slot’s and it would be fair to give him more time just like during Klopp’s initial years.
Liverpool have directly qualified for Ro16 of the UCL. But their league title hopes have been dwindling away. Dominik Szoboszlai has been a major positive from this season. It will be key as to how the season ends for the Reds.
Aadi's Sports Corner 
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