Liverpool cannot escape title reality as media narrative paints false picture

Liverpool cannot escape title race reality as media narrative paints false picture

Our panel of fan jurors reflect on another positive week for the Reds in the Champions League, Premier League and League Cup

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It has been another productive week for new Liverpool head coach Arne Slot. After wins at RB Leipzig and Brighton sandwiched a solid point at Arsenal, the Reds are back at Anfield this weekend on Saturday.

The manner in which the team has stood up to a challenging schedule so far will be a source of pride for Slot, as will the amount of players who have made their mark amid rotation and injury issues.

Next up it's Brighton again, this time in the Premier League on Saturday. Our panel of fan jurors look ahead to that encounter and reflect on an encouraging week for the new regime.

James Noble

Even with injury issues, the last week has demonstrated, and hopefully enhanced, the strength in depth and the character of Liverpool’s squad.

Having not always helped ourselves in the face of Arsenal’s admittedly excellent first-half showing on Sunday, the Reds steadied themselves well after the break. Kostas Tsimikas, Cody Gakpo and, in particular, Dominik Szoboszlai were pleasingly impactful from the bench. Mohamed Salah’s equaliser was a joy – a high-quality move at a potentially crucial moment. Build on our strong start, and that point could prove invaluable.

A starting lineup showing eight changes then began the 3-2 Carabao Cup win over Brighton & Hove Albion on Wednesday night, with Tyler Morton among those to play a key role. Gakpo’s explosive brace offers further reason for excitement.

Jarell Quansah’s on-field evening may have concluded disappointingly, but the 21-year-old centre-back had been a familiarly assured presence prior to those late goals. As is often rightly emphasised, rarely is early-career development a linear, seamless process. Such setbacks can represent valuable experiences in the long run.

Further enticing and distinctive challenges await in the coming days, with Brighton – who we can expect to be stronger than Wednesday’s iteration – and Bayer Leverkusen visiting Anfield.

Rhys Buchanan

I was pleasantly surprised to see just how professional Liverpool's mixed-bag of a team performed on the South Coast against Brighton to progress to the last eight of the competition we know and love so well.

It's never easy when experienced squad players like Jones, Gakpo and Diaz are thrown in alongside more junior names but they handled it with an air of confidence. I think Cody Gakpo will have given the manager a big question when it comes to considering starting him for Premier League games moving forward but it was also a good night for our third choice keeper Jaroš, who pulled off some Alisson-esque shots stopping.

Of course we'll be back to full-strength come 3pm on Saturday which will be an entirely different challenge, let's just hope we continue our winning ways and everyone will be happy bouncing into the rest of the weekend.

Andrew Cullen

It was billed as a title defining game against Arsenal. Whilst it was unarguably a big game, the suggestions that Arsenal would be cut adrift from the title race if they lost were misplaced: the title race is still in its infancy.

I was surprised by the media’s emphasis before the game on Arsenal’s frailties due to injury. It was portrayed that Arsenal’s team was thread bare and Liverpool had a fully fit, fresh side to choose from. If the scales were brought out, it would be seen that Liverpool too were missing integral players in Alisson Becker and Diogo Jota.

Liverpool were underwhelming, especially after the 30-minute mark; Liverpool’s midfield was frequently bypassed and overwhelmed. Arsenal strangely backed off in the second half after having significant success in the first with pushing Liverpool on to the ropes. It was almost like they got jittery about either their defensive frailties, or they cowered expecting a Liverpool counterpunch, haunted by the distant memories of those old Klopp Haymakers.

Liverpool deserve credit for fighting back twice in the game. Though, whilst a point against a title rival away from home shouldn’t be scoffed at, it shouldn’t disguise an average performance in such a big game.

Our ghoulish fixture list continued with a daunting trip to Brighton on Wednesday evening. We safely secured passage to the next round thanks to an electric performance from Cody Gakpo, who treated us to two thunderbolt goals. With some impressive cameos this year, is it not time for Cody to have a consistent run in the front three position?

We can’t have too many complaints with our early work this season: we remain in a good position in all competitions. Let’s hope we are only in second gear, ready to shift to higher gears.

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