Liverpool were not up for the fight in their defeat at Man City, losing Arne Slot‘s non-negotiable to the opposition, and not for the first time this season.
For the first time since September, Liverpool had won back-to-back games and the feeling was their season was alive again, though Man City were always going to test that.
And they did just that, inflicting the Reds’ seventh defeat in the last 10 games across all competitions – a record not befitting the champions.
Slot admitted after the 3-0 defeat that his tactics did not work, as “we struggled a lot with them bringing so many players into the centre of the pitch.”
He then added: “I would first and foremost look to the game plan, of us and them, and not blame my players at all because in the second half, when we were doing better, you could see we were winning more duels, which did not result in a goal, but we did deserve one in the second half.”
Despite his assertion of an improved win rate in the second half, as per FotMob, Liverpool won only 13 duels compared to Man City‘s 24, after also losing the first-half count 24-18.
Forget the long balls, bring the physicality and you are one step closer to a victory against Slot’s side.
Only 4 players won more duels than they lost
Liverpool have lost four successive away games in the league for the first time since 2012, and won the duel count in only one of those fixtures.
It was against Brentford that they narrowly won the count (63-59), but otherwise Liverpool have allowed home teams to bully them and prey on their vulnerabilities.
Crystal Palace (48-45), Chelsea (41-32) and City (49-31) all had the upper hand on Slot’s men in the physical contest, and all scored first to leave Slot desperate for a solution.
At the Etihad, only Conor Bradley (7/13), Andy Robertson (3/4), Virgil van Dijk (3/4) and substitute Federico Chiesa (1/1) won more duels than they lost.
Mohamed Salah (4/11), Ryan Gravenberch (2/9), Ibrahima Konate (3/8), Alexis Mac Allister (2/5), Hugo Ekitike (0/2) and substitute Curtis Jones (0/2), meanwhile, lost more than they won.
Moreover, only three Liverpool starters registered a successful tackle – Bradley (three), Salah (two) and Robertson (two) – compared to seven for City, who combined for 15 tackles.
In an attempt to explain the deficit, Slot said: “It wasn’t about my players not wanting to make the duel; they had to run a lot because they (City) were so much better on the ball than us, they were then a few times late.”
It has a knock-on effect, though, as the inability to win the battle at the coalface is exemplified by the fact Liverpool are sixth for the most clearances across the Premier League (30.1 per match).
It places them only just behind the likes of relegation-threatened Burnley and West Ham.
Where is the fight?
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - Sunday, November 9, 2025: Liverpool's Ibrahima Konaté (L) challenges Manchester City's goalscorer Erling Haaland during the FA Premier League match between Manchester City FC and Liverpool FC at the City of Manchester Stadium. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
When Slot arrived last year, he made an emphasis on his side winning duels as it would give Liverpool ball possession and control, two things the Reds have lacked this season.
After his first game at Ipswich, he pointedly said: “First thing I said [during the half-time break] was we don’t have to speak about tactics if we lose so many duels, and that’s what we did.
“I didn’t see them fight for it in the first half – we lost almost every long ball, every duel to both sides.
“I don’t think our problem in the first half was our midfield. Our problem was more that we lost too many duels – our defenders lost too many and our attackers didn’t win enough.”
It encapsulates the current issue at hand, that Liverpool’s tactics are almost redundant if they lose more duels than they win, which they have done in six of the last 10 games.
Slot reverted back to his winning formula on the team sheet, but he needs to go back to the basics when it comes to his side fighting the fight for Liverpool.
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