From Setback to Strategy: How Liverpool Plans to Bounce Back After FA Cup Exit

Liverpool won the Premier League for the season 2024/25. It was a massive achievement and their second title in the last six years. Liverpool only has two PL titles to their name, as the last one they took home was back in 1989/90. As far as league titles go, they have twenty making them one of only two teams to achieve that feat. Widely expected to be a season of transition, 2024/25 season was one of the best in recent memory for the Reds as they finished first above the likes of Arsenal, Manchester City, Newcastle, Chelsea, and Aston Villa. 

The main reasons why many fans of Liverpool weren’t as hopeful as they were in some of the previous seasons was because their decorated manager Jurgen Klopp decided to part ways with the club after little less than a decade in charge. One of the reasons why the German coach will always be remembered as a club legend is not because he brought the club first PL title after 30 years, or for their Champions League glory. Fans will remember him for years to come as he left the club on a high note, with a squad which was rebuilt for a new manager, after a couple of years of transition. 

Usually the coaches leave the club when the last ounce of the current squad is exhausted, and all the issues that piled up for years come out to surface in one season. Just take a look at what happened at Manchester United. Unlike Sir Alex Ferguson, Klopp left the Reds in perfect conditions, like it was a Ferrari 458 Italia and not a Honda Accord with a million miles on it. When Arne Slot took over, he had a fabulous squad to work with. Experienced players such as Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, Sadio Mane, and Roberto Firmino were all let go as they were no longer fit to contribute at the highest level. 

Instead of them the team, a bit on Klopp’s insistence, and a bit looking out for their new manager, brought in players such as Cody Gakpo, Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister,  Ibrahima Konate, Darwin Nunez, Gravenberch Ryan, and Luis Diaz. The Liverpool Slot took over was tailored for his play style, and with the likes of Alison, Mo Salah,  Virgil Van Dijk, Trent Alexander Arnold, Curtis Jones, and Andrew Robertson committed to the cause, the team took off from the first round. 

After it was evident that Manchester City is on a collapse route, Liverpool was declared as league’s favorites by sports betting outlets such as Stake, and it didn’t took while for them to be left alone at the top of the table as their main rivals such as Chelsea and Arsenal joined Manchester City on bad runs of form throughout the year. Liverpool was the only team in the 2024/25 season to play steadily, without oscillations, and with a  clear goal in mind – winning the title. 

With one more round to go, the Reds are already champions with 83 points from 37 fixtures. They scored a league high 85 goals so far and conceded 30. It was an amazing campaign that had Mo Salah playing out of his mind. The Pharaoh has scored 28 goals and assisted 18 more. At times it appeared that he was about to join Thierry Henry as the only player with more than  20 goals and 20 assists in a season, but he’s two assists short with a game to spare. The Egyptian superstar can get there if the Reds play to his strengths in the last round against Crystal Palace at home. 

While L:iverpool’s league season was one to remember, we shouldn’t neglect the rest of the competitions they entered at the start of the year. At one point it even appeared that the team was on a course to win a quadruple. Those hopes were quickly dispersed at the turn of the year. One could argue that the 2024 Arne Slot deserves coach of the year award, and that 2025 Slot should be fired.  

In addition to the league, where the Reds dominated throughout the entire year as the title was not in jeopardy at any point of the season, the team started bright in the EFL Cup too.  The first opponent to drop was West Ham who was escorted from Anfield with 5 goals in their net. What followed was a duel with Brighton in the same competition and a 2:3 away win. At that point it appeared as the Reds had enough firepower to battle on four fronts. The next opponent to fall was Southampton and all of a sudden the team was in the semi-finals of the FA Cup. After losing 1:0 at the Tottenham Stadium, the Reds came home for a convincing 4:0 routing of the London team and a place in the final. 

The final at Wembley vs. Newcastle was the first time that Arne Slot appeared to be out of his depth as they lost 2:1 in a game that Newcastle and Eddie Howe’s boys dominated start to finish and despite a close score the game was nothing than a one-sided encounter won fair and square by Newcastle. 

The EFL Cup final came in the midst of Liverpool’s first drop of form during the entire year. To that point, or to be fair, two weeks prior, they appeared to be invincible. According to Premier League betting  websites they have been primed to win the PL since December. Also, they were favoured in the EFL Cup and at times in the Champions League too. Talking about the CL, it’s where things went wrong even before the EFL Cup final. You could say that their heads weren’t even in the game at Wembley. Here’s why. 

Let’s get back to the start of the year. Arne Slot, Mo Salah, and the rest of Liverpool lads started the year in a convincing fashion. You could even say that the team played better on the European nights than they have in the Premier League. The new format of the CL brought forth a league table for CL, and when eight games were over with, Liverpool had 8 wins and only 1 defeat, with 17 goals scored and only 5 conceded. En route to topping the CL table they won against the likes of Lille, Girona, Real Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Bologna, RB Leipzig, and AC Milan. Their only defeat came in the hands of PSV in a game that mattered not to Liverpool. 

As the top dogs in the CL, Liverpool had a bye week in the first round of the knockouts. What they didn’t have was luck as they were drawn against PSG in the next one. After winning 1:0 in Paris the Reds fans thought that the sky was the limit. What followed was a 1:0 loss at Anfield, and a devastating elimination after penalties. The only comfort as far as the CL goes for this loss may lie in the fact that PSG went to the finals. Yet, on the other hand everyone knows that if they eliminated PSG, the road to the final could have been wide open for them too. 

Another downside for the loss to PSG lay in the fact that the Reds had to play the EFL Cup final only a few days later, and they were not obviously mentally in the game vs. Newcastle. By that point it was already obvious that Liverpool will struggle in cup competitions with Slot at the helm if changes are not made. 

The one competition where the Reds failed miserably and have no excuses for their performance was the FA Cup. The most prestigious cup competition in the world started well for Liverpool as they destroyed Accrington in the third round, as the League Two opponent was no match for the Liverpool team at Anfield.  The same was expected from the team away at Plymouth, but Argyle had a lesson for the Reds they will not quickly forget. The team that dropped out of the Championship this season was good enough to defeat the Reds 1:0 and end their FA Cup hopes. This giant slaying performance by Plymouth was enough to derail the entire Liverpool’s season, as what followed were the defeats against PSG and Newcastle in the next knockout games they had on schedule. 

While it was devastating to lose the EFL Cup final to Newcastle and to lose to PSG in a dramatic penalty fashion, the worst part of the season for Liverpool fans was the unexpected loss in the hands of Plymouth. There’s a lesson to be learned there. If Arne Slot doesn’t learn it during the summer, his Liverpool tenure might be shorter than it appears it is going to be today. The first lesson he needs to learn is that teams in England take the FA Cup seriously. You cannot beat a team from Championship playing at home in front of their fans without fielding your strongest eleven. 

Liverpool went to Plymouth without the stars such as Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk, MacAllister, and Szoboszlai. The likes of Nyoni, McConnell, and Quansah are obviously not even at the Championship level. The second lesson is that Slot needs to play his first team players at away ends in the FA Cup or to bring more players over the summer to add depth to the current squad. The way things stand now, they only have enough players to be the best team in only one competition. 

It is evident that Liverpool has a top end first 11, but it is also clear they do not have proper replacements for the likes of Van Dijk, Salah, Konate, MacAllister, and Szoboszlai. The third lesson Slot needs to adopt is the art of squad building. We’re going to have to forgive him as he mostly played with a team inherited from Klopp this year. Next year, there will be no excuses come February. 

Also, it is worth noting that after Crystal Palace took home the FA Cup trophy, that the rest of the PL, mostly mid table teams, are more than ready to cross spears with the Big Six for this prestigious trophy. Glasner is an example that other teams might follow. Of course, we’re not talking about the awful start to the season. What we had in mind is the way Palace elevated their play as year moved on, securing the mid table finish in the league, while taking down opponents with ease in the FA Cup. 

The Eagles winning the FA Cup doesn’t come down only to the tactics set by Oliver Glasner. It comes down to respect that Palace showed to their opponents. If you look at the teams they’ve played, they were not all PL opponents. They had outings against Stockport County and Doncaster Rovers, before facing city rivals, Millwall. In each of these games they had Eze, Sarr, Nketiah, Mateta, Wharton, Guehi, Munoz, or Mitchell on the field. Yes, some players were rested at times, but at least 70% of first team players making appearances in the league appeared in the FA Cup. 

When time came for CP to play the likes of Fulham, Aston Villa, and finally Manchester City at Wembley, they took out their best 11 out on the field. By the time semi-finals came around their team was playing like clockwork, and it was all down to them playing together in important matches, and having being in top form at the right time. It was not an easy task by any means imaginable to defeat Pep’s City, yet Glasner, Eze, and the boys did it. 

This is all that Liverpool needs to do to be able to compete at all fronts next year. Add some depth, let the best players play important matches, and do not underestimate any opponent. Winning the league felt nice, but it would be even better if an away match at Plymouth hadn’t derailed an entire season just because Salah and Van Dijk needed rest, Plymouth was underestimated, and the bench players didn’t have required quality to perform at the highest level that FA Cup is.