The good news for Liverpool is that, apart from Arsenal, all the other teams with vague title aspirations who played over the weekend seemed underprepared, and that Andoni Iraola’s men ultimately left Newcastle with a point. But the vulnerability to counterattacking that undermined them so many times last season hasn’t gone away, nor have they suddenly found new creativity under Iraola.
The main theme of the first three days of the new season was the value of stability. Manchester City, under the new manager, were poor and lucky to beat Bournemouth. Aston Villa, after major changes of players and coaching staff, were defeated at Brighton. Tottenham, halfway through another reform, were dismal when they lost at Brentford. Manchester United at least provided a degree of stability by looking a lot like United of the last decade in their defeat to Hull.
Liverpool, for much of the first 96 minutes of their match at St James’ Park, appeared to join the list of rivals struggling to emerge from a summer of turmoil. Arne Slot spent much of last season complaining about how opponents always scored at their first opportunity and Liverpool’s inability to deal with direct attacks, and when Anthony Elanga put Newcastle ahead it looked like not much had changed. Joe Willock’s goal of regaining the lead at Newcastle was much the same: the opponents were running at a good pace through the empty spaces.
The strange thing is how pressing the need for a replacement for Fabinho has been since the defensive midfielder left in 2023. Even when Liverpool won the league under Slot in 2024-25, the discussion was about how the team needed an overhaul and how a dedicated player to operate alongside Ryan Gravenberch was a priority. That’s what made last summer’s boondoggle so surprising: It wasn’t so much about who got in but who didn’t.
Without a holding midfielder, the defects of the center of defence, where Virgil van Dijk’s lack of pace in corners becomes increasingly evident, are magnified. Liverpool could perhaps get away with it if they were prepared to operate 10 yards higher in possession, but the 35-year-old, conscious of his aging legs and concerned about balls played behind him, instinctively drops deeper, giving his opponents the kind of opportunities that Yoane Wissa continued to exploit on Sunday.
Iraola insisted that it was not “just about personnel,” which in itself seemed an implicit acknowledgment that it was partly about personnel. Had he scored, Iraola said, everyone would have praised Gravenberch, who advanced to the edge of the Newcastle area in the attack that led to Liverpool’s first concession. “I don’t want us to take that away from their game, but we have to adapt as a team to these situations,” Iraola said. “We have to know that these situations can happen.”
Of Newcastle’s second goal, he said: “It wasn’t like we were caught by surprise. We should compete for the first ball and probably foul, be a little more aggressive against the ball carrier. There were different reasons for both goals that happened in transition. We’ve been preparing throughout the week for these transitions, but there’s a reason why Newcastle are so good at them. It’s not just because one person is playing there. It’s something we have to correct among a lot of players.”
But fitting in at half-time is not the only familiar problem for Liverpool. Their full-backs, Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez, did not convince. Alexander Isak, booed throughout by the home fans, rarely looked dangerous in the first full 90 minutes he completed since his British record transfer from Newcastle last summer. Florian Wirtz gave a characteristic performance full of careful touches and little incision.
Iraola’s career suggests that it often takes him time to instill his ideas in clubs. There is no reason to panic. Liverpool at least had the stamina to come back and achieve the tie. Not that any team apart from Arsenal has looked particularly impressive. But perhaps it is necessary to reconsider what happened before.
The familiar narrative is that Slot drove the car Jürgen Klopp had put together to win a league title and then found itself wanting. But while the Dutchman cannot escape blame for last season, an equally valid interpretation could be that Slot coaxed an aging team to an unexpected league title. Then, with a much-needed overhaul (Jamie Carragher was not the only one to talk towards the end of that season about Liverpool needing half a dozen new players), the recruiters let him down.
Michael Edwards left his role as chief football executive at Fenway Sports Group, which owns Liverpool, in July, but the disarray caused by last summer’s revelry lingers. Of last summer’s six most expensive signings for a combined £410 million ($560 million), the only one who has looked remotely impressive, Hugo Ekitike, remains out for months with a ruptured Achilles tendon. Rarely has so much been spent on football with such destructive effect.
