Will Liverpool’s Defence Be Able to Keep Up With Its Attack in the 25/26 Campaign?
When Jurgen Klopp left Liverpool, there were a lot of questions about whether they could achieve the same success under new management. Under Klopp, of course, Liverpool managed to win multiple major trophies, including the UEFA Champions League in 2019, the Premier League title in 2020, and the FIFA Club World Cup that same year.
His tenure was marked by a high-intensity, attacking style of play that brought both domestic and international glory to the club, but when Arne Slot took over, many wondered whether he’d bring his own vision – which was far less chaotic – into the team.
Thankfully, Slot knew gold when he saw it. Not only has he kept many of Klopp’s key tactical principles intact, he added a notable level of calm and structure to the team: a knowledge of patience.
For football fans and neutrals betting on Liverpool, even if they’re unsure whether they will win a game, players like Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo have become almost surefire picks for goal scoring, simply because the field is organised around them, allowing for quick transitions and ample opportunities in the final third. Summer acquisitions Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz, signed for a British transfer record, will only further that potency, let alone throwing new high-flying fullbacks Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez into the mix.
But all of this does beg the question: how far can it go? While Slot has been sensible in keeping many of Klopp’s attacking strategies in place, there is a chance that the defence won’t be able to keep up, and if this becomes the case, Liverpool could be in for a surprising 25/26 season.
The Gap Between Defence and Attack
The problem here is that Arne Slot is not Jurgen Klopp. He’s got a good managerial success rate, but Klopp had a way of balancing a highly aggressive attack and a resilient defence. It was all based on risk, but ones that Klopp and his coaches drilled into his team so that they knew their exact margins for error. Yes, the team would relentlessly press, and there were some explosive forward plays, but it was all based on a well-drilled defensive unit that could hold the backline if and when they were needed.
Players like Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker were just as crucial to the attack as the strikers – hence their record-breaking deals at the time – as they could quickly regain possession, cool down the opposite team’s aggression, and minimise any counter-attacks. Would Klopp’s success have been possible without van Dijk and Alisson?
With Slot, the defensive line held very firm during the opening weeks, but as the season went on, they conceded the same number of goals they did in Klopp’s final season. At 41 goals conceded, it ranked as one of Klopp’s team’s leakiest campaigns, a far cry from their dominant 22 goals conceded during the 2018/19 season in which they finished a baffling second on 97 points.
While he has been keen on keeping fast attacking transitions and fluidity upfront, Slot wanted more stability in build-up and through the middle of the pitch, so that the team was tighter and more cohesive. Again, there was a greater emphasis on patience.
Defence is all about what you’re willing to give up. Naturally, no defence can cover all of the pitch. Parts have to be sacrificed. When Alexander-Arnold had the ball and ventured forward into dangerous attacking areas, Gravenberch and Konate had to be aware and ready for opposition transition, meaning they had to cover immense stretches of grass. It was a weakness that teams targeted time and time again. Robertson, Liverpool’s stalwart at left back, started to show signs of age, too, with wingers able to beat him 1v1 and a higher rate than in past seasons.
There were questions that the champions didn’t need to answer during the 2024/25 season as they strolled to the title. For 25/26, though, those questions are likely to be renewed even with new full-backs, and, especially, with no new centre-back signings as yet.
The 2025/26 Season
Liverpool needs to be careful that these problems don’t remain, because when a defence can’t keep up with an attack, it doesn’t take long for cracks to start showing. Yes, Liverpool won the 2024/25 Premier League, but every season is different.
A summer spending spree that has focused on reshaping the side’s attack could mean new holes appear. The Dutchman will have to be ready. He’s never been shy to tweak and react midgame to threats and struggles, and it may require solutions he’s yet to think of to ensure Liverpool’s title defence doesn’t go as badly as their 20/21 one did.
In Slot’s second season, judging by the new players, transitions will still be key to Liverpool’s offense, but how else he evolves the side will give fans some clues as to how the defence will be managed. It could well be that what Slot wants is to race into early leads and then smother oppositions with possession and quality advantages. But no game plan ever goes that perfectly consistently. A lack of defensive attention in the window could be the Red’s undoing.
With fringe and squad players like Harvey Elliot potentially leaving, freeing up funds for the pursuit of Alexander Isak – another striker – will there be anything left in the kitty for more centre-back depth and if Gravenberch is forced to miss a large portion of the season through any unfortunate injury, is there there sufficient quality in the team to replace him and hold the defence firm?
Slot’s first season was a dream, a feeling he has freely admitted, saying 25/26 will be harder as teams like Chelsea and Manchester City get better. $500M worth of outlays on new players might not yet be ready to answer a key question: if Liverpool can’t attack a title, can they defend it?
