With Liverpool's 2025-26 season finally over, our Liverpool FC fan jury assesses what has unfolded and what should happen next.
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Liverpool manager Arne Slot will start next season under high pressure
Liverpool manager Arne Slot will start next season under high pressure(Image: Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP via Getty Images)
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Liverpool's Premier League title defence did not go to plan and many would also be of the opinion that the club's eye-watering £448m summer transfer spend was anything but a success, piling pressure on head coach Arne Slot.
A fifth-place finish in the Premier League might have been enough to secure Champions League qualification, but it did not tell half the story of the Reds' miserable campaign, which included 12 league defeats and 20 losses across all competitions.
Summer signings Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike both suffered serious injuries, while Florian Wirtz was only able to show his expected performance levels in patches.
Throw in the departures of Andy Robertson and club legend Mohamed Salah after nine years of service each and few would argue that the season just gone was truly one for forget. But what is next for Liverpool and Slot? The ECHO's fan jury has taken stock and had its say.
James Noble
Anfield’s moving farewell to Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah on Sunday cued plenty of emotion. Nostalgia, gratitude and familiar anthems filled the air as their excellence-laden nine-year Liverpool careers came to a close with fitting warmth. While 2025/26 hasn’t played out how we’d have hoped, their final campaign did, at least, end with the securing of Champions League football for 2026/27.
This term, while dwelling on it is somewhat unpalatable, is one that plenty of lessons can, and ought to, be taken from. Injuries, the squad’s relative brittleness and the Premier League’s stark tactical evolution have been among the accumulating challenges, but performance and adaptability levels still ought to have been higher.
The tragic death of Diogo Jota and his brother André Silva last July, of course, puts so many things into perspective. Empathy remains important.
Looking ahead, Champions League qualification can help boost those aforementioned levels. Understandably, questions continue to be asked of Arne Slot and others. An efficient summer looks a must if coherent answers are to be found. Pace on the flanks, physicality and further passing acumen in midfield, and potential full-back additions can enhance flexibility and durability, while a good pre-season could prove invaluable.
These last nine years have been so often invigoratingly enjoyable. The future needs work, but we have a platform to build on and plenty of talent to build around.
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Andrew Cullen
The season assessment begins. Liverpool fans have already given their verdict, and it is a damning one. It’s a verdict that has reverberated around Anfield in recent weeks. There is a lingering unease, an unease that will likely persist into the start of the new season.
As old faces leave, new faces will arrive. But will the malaise that has settled over Anfield this season be cured before the new season? Could last year just be a one-off, a freak season? That reasoning and hope comes more from the heart than the head.
What is sending pangs of anxiety through the veins of fans is the prospect of next year being another dead rubber. If we start poorly, the pressure on the team, which is already at boiling point, will explode. We then face a season of stabilisation and transition.
The problem we have is that our once solid, stable spine is now withered and needs replacement. The new additions from last summer will have to show grit and strength next year as we rebuild, but that will be the central question for next year - are our summer signings last year real Liverpool players? Do they have the Liverpool DNA, the thirst for trophies?
A plea from me: power and pace in any new signings please. It has been hard to watch a weary and passive team this year. Let’s return to the heavy metal football.