Honestly, if you’re a Liverpool fan right now, you’re probably staring at your phone waiting for a "here we go" that just isn't coming. It’s mid-January 2026. The winter window is wide open, yet the corridors of the AXA Training Centre are curiously quiet. While Manchester City is out here dropping £62.5 million on Antoine Semenyo, Arne Slot seems content to play the long game. Or is he?
The mood around Anfield is... complicated. We’re sitting fourth in the Premier League. We’re 14 points behind Arsenal. That’s a massive gap. It feels like we’re in a transition that nobody really wanted to admit was happening.
The defensive crisis nobody saw coming
Liverpool fc football news lately has been dominated by one word: surgery. Conor Bradley is out. Season-ending knee injury. That hurts. He was really starting to find his rhythm, and now Slot is left looking at his bench like a man trying to find a spare tire in a car that didn't come with one.
Then you’ve got Giovanni Leoni. The summer signing tore his ACL back in September against Southampton. It’s a mess. Right now, the backline is basically Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, and Joe Gomez holding everything together with duct tape. Danny Murphy recently said we’re "down to the bare bones," and he’s not wrong. Gomez is versatile, sure, but he can’t be in two places at once. If Van Dijk catches a cold, we are in genuine trouble.
Why hasn't the club moved for Marc Guehi? We almost had him. A £35 million deal was basically done in the summer before Crystal Palace pulled the plug at the 11th hour. Now City is sniffing around him too. It feels like a missed opportunity that might come back to haunt the second half of this campaign.
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What is actually going on with Mohamed Salah?
You’ve seen the reports. The 3-3 draw at Elland Road against Leeds on New Year's Day was a disaster for more than just the scoreline. Salah was an unused sub. He wasn't happy. Actually, "not happy" is an understatement—he reportedly felt "thrown under the bus."
He’s currently away at the Africa Cup of Nations, but the vibe is off. Egypt got knocked out by Senegal—classic Sadio Mane drama—so he’ll be back soon. But will he be the same Mo? He’s in the final stretch of his contract, and the Saudi Pro League rumors are louder than ever. Liverpool literally has no other natural right-winger. If he leaves, or even if he just stays disgruntled, the attack loses its edge.
The Hugo Ekitike Factor
While everyone is worried about Salah, Hugo Ekitike has quietly become the man. He’s got 12 goals across all competitions this season. Eight in the league. For a guy who was supposed to be a "project," he’s leading the line better than most expected. He and Cody Gakpo are basically keeping the lights on in the final third while the "Egyptian King" drama plays out in the background.
The Florian Wirtz conundrum
We spent £116 million on Florian Wirtz. That is a lot of pressure. For a while, it looked like he was struggling to adapt to the pace of the Premier League. People were calling him a flop by October. Fast forward to now, and he’s starting to look like the player we thought we bought.
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He’s got three goals and two assists in his last six games. He was brilliant coming off the bench in the 4-1 FA Cup win over Barnsley. But here’s the problem: where does he fit in Slot’s "best" XI? Slot is still trying to balance Wirtz with Dominik Szoboszlai. Szoboszlai has been our best player this season—hands down. He’s got that Steven Gerrard energy, even if he did gift Barnsley a goal with a horrific backheel error last week.
You can’t drop Szoboszlai. You can’t bench your £116m man. It’s a tactical headache that Slot hasn't quite solved yet.
Champions League: A gamble on Marseille
In the Champions League, we’re sitting in 9th. We’ve got Marseille away and Qarabag at home left in the league phase. If we don’t break into the top eight, we’re looking at a two-legged playoff. Given our injury list, that is the last thing this squad needs.
The bookies have us at 10/1 to win the whole thing. Sixth favorites. It sounds about right. We can beat anyone at Anfield—we saw that against Eintracht Frankfurt—but the inconsistency is maddening. One week we’re winning 5-1, the next we’re losing 3-0 to Nottingham Forest at home.
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The Federico Chiesa situation
Is he leaving? Juventus wants him back. He’s only made 35 appearances since joining in 2024. This season has been a ghost act for him. He hasn't found his place under Slot, and with the January window ticking down, a move back to Italy seems more likely every day. If he goes, we’re even thinner on the wings.
Actionable insights for the second half of the season
If Liverpool is going to salvage this season and actually compete for more than just a "top four trophy," a few things need to happen immediately:
- Sign a defender: Whether it’s Murillo from Forest or a desperate late bid for Guehi, the club cannot rely on Gomez and Konate to stay fit until May.
- Resolve the Salah rift: Richard Hughes needs to sit down with Mo the second he gets back from AFCON. A distracted Salah is a liability; a motivated Salah is a title-contender.
- Commit to the Wirtz/Szoboszlai duo: Slot needs to stop rotating them and find a way to play both in a functional midfield. The "Gerrard and Lampard" problem can be solved if one of them is given more license to roam from the half-space.
- Prioritize the top eight in Europe: Avoid the extra two games in February at all costs. The squad depth simply isn't there for a congested spring schedule.
The next few weeks against Burnley and in the Champions League will tell us everything. Are we a team in decline, or just a team waiting for its second wind? Honestly, it could go either way.