Rio Ngumoha of Liverpool interacts with Arne Slot, Manager of Liverpool, following the team's victory in the Premier League match between Newcastle United and Liverpool at St James' Park on August 25, 2025 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.placeholder image
Rio Ngumoha of Liverpool interacts with Arne Slot, Manager of Liverpool, following the team's victory in the Premier League match between Newcastle United and Liverpool at St James' Park on August 25, 2025 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. | Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Defiant or vulnerable, what is going on with Liverpool’s start to the season?
Arne Slot isn’t a system manager or a philosophy manager, nor is the Liverpool boss a typical Dutchman in terms of an obsession with Total Football.
He has shown since taking charge at Anfield that he is a pragmatist, willing to do whatever it takes, as long as he wins, with various different approaches taken depending on the opposition. If he could have any games back from last season, it would probably be the two against Paris Saint Germain where, despite playing a good team and the eventual winners, knows that his side didn’t give an accurate reflection of what they are truly capable of.
So far this season though, Slot’s team have been anything but pragmatic, appearing more like Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle United of the 1990s with an approach suggesting that if the opposition scores three, Liverpool will score four. The lesson learned from that team though is that goals win games and defences win championships, with Keegan’s team falling short on a number of occasions. They got the plaudits, but no silverware.
Are Liverpool defiant or vulnerable?
Speaking on the White and Jordan show on Talksport, Simon Jordan was asked if the champions are defiant or vulnerable: “I don't think we're looking at either. I think we're looking at teams that they're playing against. First of all, playing at Newcastle on a Monday night underneath the floodlights in a game that has a whole raft of narratives behind it and a game that's been littered over the years with challenges. This time last year Newcastle came back and drew 3-0, didn't they? Or was it the other way around? I can't remember.
“It was a 3-0 draw. And so in this instance, you're not surprised. Newcastle are a good side. And so are Bournemouth. Bournemouth last year to me were... their manager’s outstanding. They've had their playing squad pillaged by the biggest clubs in Europe to tell you how good their players are. One of them playing last night who didn't cover himself in glory, Liverpool, for the first goal that Newcastle scored. So I'm not surprised these teams are. And as the defending champions, life has always made much more difficult because everyone amps up the intensity based upon a legacy club, that's the Premier League champions, that's the poster boys of the Premier League because they're the champions, coming to town.
“And Liverpool are finding ways to win. And that's what you do when you're the champions, you find ways to win and that's what they're doing. So I don't know whether it's defiant or it's vulnerable, or you have to give a lot of credit to the opposition.”
What is the biggest concern for Arne Slot?
It’s a valid point that White makes in that Crystal Palace and Bournemouth are not the teams that they once were. Both are top half clubs in terms of Premier League status with good managers and very good players throughout their respective squads. Newcastle, at St James’ Park, are also one of the hardest teams to beat, even when down to 10-men. This is all true, but what will worry Slot is the manner in which they have nearly dropped points in the first two league games.
It wasn’t like the scorelines were close and then Liverpool pulled away, both games against Bournemouth and Newcastle were at the hour mark and saw the Reds with a two-goal advantage. The sort of issue that a pragmatist will hate and shouldn’t have too much difficulty sorting out.
Continue Reading