Liverpool host Leeds United on Thursday, less than a month since their last meeting at Elland Road. An awful lot has changed in the interim, though. Back on December 6, it appeared as if the wheels had well and truly come off Liverpool's season, with Mohamed Salah sensationally accusing Arne Slot of throwing him under the boss by once again benching him for a 3-3 draw that saw the Reds twice throw away the lead with more woeful defending from Ibrahima Konate & Co.
The result left the reigning Premier League champions 10th in the table, with just two wins from their preceding 10 games, meaning Slot's position had become a topic of widespread debate just six months after leading Liverpool to the title in his first season in charge.
Now, though, the seemingly resurgent Reds climbed to fourth after three consecutive victories, over Brighton, Tottenham and Wolves, while Slot de-escalated the Salah situation by welcoming the Egyptian back into the squad before he headed off on Africa Cup of Nations duty.
However, given the underwhelming nature of Liverpool's performances in their winning streak, it seems pertinent to ask, is Slot's side actually improving – or are they still flattering to deceive?
-
Surpassing expectations
There are undeniable grounds for optimism around Anfield as Liverpool prepare to welcome in the New Year – not least because several of their summer signings are showing signs of belatedly settling into their new surroundings.
Sadly, their most expensive acquisition, Alexander Isak, is out of action until at least March with a broken leg sustained while scoring his second league goal for the club, and in light of his previous struggles to get himself match fit, the striker's debut season on Merseyside is already looking like a write-off.
Luckily for Liverpool, Hugo Ekitike hasn't just proven an excellent alternative to Isak; he's looked like the superior striker. Granted, the Reds recruitment team expected the former Eintracht Frankfurt forward to be good – just not this quickly. Only Erling Haaland had scored more non-penalty goals in this season's Premier League than Ekitike (eight) after 18 rounds of matches, with the France international having struck five times in his last four games.
The 23-year-old is clearly benefiting from a run of starts and his increased fitness levels – which Slot spoke about at length last week – have also allowed Ekitike to exert greater influence over Liverpool's play, as so thrillingly underlined by his fantastic assist for Florian Wirtz in Saturday's 2-1 win over Wolves:
Advertisement
-
Finally off the mark
Wirtz's goal was obviously his first since arriving at Anfield during the summer for an initial £100 million, and his relief was there for all to see as he wheeled away to celebrate.
It was also just reward for an outstanding individual display in which he constantly bamboozled the Wolves backline with his intelligent movement and fast feet, prompting former Liverpool striker John Aldridge to compare the diminutive German to the great Peter Beardsley.
Clearly, the weakness of the opposition cannot be overlooked, but it was the kind of decisive and dynamic display that had been coming. As Slot has been at pains to point out, Wirtz has actually been performing at a high level for some time now, looking more and more like his Bayer Leverkusen self with each passing game.
Again, part of the reason for that is the work being done in the gym, with the little bit of extra muscle Wirtz has put on since the start of the season aiding his adjustment to the rigours of English football.
"I know it's the hardest league in the world and I just have to get used to the physicality and the players around me on the pitch in the midfield," he told on Saturday. "But every game I feel a bit better and I want to continue feeling like that."
- Getty Images Sport
Additional asset
Jeremie Frimpong has had even more physical problems than Wirtz, with the Dutchman forced to sit out 14 of his first 27 games as a Liverpool player because of two separate hamstring issues, thus robbing him of any chance to build up some serious momentum since his own summer switch from Leverkusen. Just like Wirtz, though, Frimpong is finally primed to replicate the form that made him the scourge of defenders in the Bundesliga.
The versatile right-back has only 120 minutes since returning from injury, but has contributed two assists in that time, and when asked what Frimpong adds to Liverpool side after watching him set-up Ryan Gravenberch's opener against Wolves with a burst to the byline and a clever cut-back, Slot replied, "Pace – that's what he has and that's so important in modern-day football.
"Because to create something against a low-block, teams that defend with so many players, usually teams break this down with set-pieces, but now that's not our biggest strength, so to have him available with his pace… [look at] the first goal we scored [against Wolves]: it was pure individual ability, [the kind of] pace I always wanted to bring in during the summer."
ENJOYED THIS STORY?
Add GOAL.com as a preferred source on Google to see more of our reporting
- Getty Images Sport
Set-piece shambles
Of course, Slot saying that set-pieces are not Liverpool's "biggest strength" is putting it very mildly. They're actually their biggest weakness – which is a major, major problem in a league where more than a quarter of the goals scored are now coming from non-penalty dead-ball situations (28.6 per cent). It's certainly no coincidence that Arsenal, the team with the best set-piece goal difference (+9) are also top of the table.
Nor is it an exaggeration to say that Liverpool's incessant set-piece struggles are the main reason why their title defence is already over before January, because of the 26 league goals they've shipped so far this season, 12 have come from corners (seven), long throws (two) and free-kicks (two) – which amounts to a frankly ridiculous 46%. It's a staggering statistic and one that nobody could have seen coming when one considers that Liverpool didn't concede once from a dead-ball delivery during the first half of the 2024-25 campaign.
So, what's going wrong? After all, the Reds haven't significantly changed their approach to defending set-pieces, and, as Virgil van Dijk has pointed out, it's not a case of the Dutchman and his fellow defenders consistently being beaten in the air. On the contrary, Liverpool have won a greater share of their aerial challenges this season than any of their Premier League rivals (57.2%).
