The decline has been stark.

Liverpool are 25 points adrift of the 84 they accumulated when winning the Premier League title last season. Their current tally of 60 league goals scored is 28 fewer than in 2024-25, and works out at 1.67 per game, the club’s lowest rate since 2015-16 (1.66).

At the other end, Arne Slot’s fourth-placed side have already conceded 48 times — seven more than last season. If they ship three goals over their remaining two matches, it will become Liverpool’s worst defensive return in a 38-game Premier League season.

This was always likely to be a difficult campaign following the death of Diogo Jota in July. Liverpool were the only club with grief counsellors at their training complex throughout pre-season, a backdrop that can’t be overlooked when assessing the past nine months.

But other factors have also contributed to their struggles. The boos at Anfield during and after last weekend’s draw with Chelsea laid bare the scale of the frustration among fans.

Slot, who is set to keep his job despite growing calls for change, referred to the torrent of criticism in his press conference before Friday’s trip to Aston Villa. “We have all had our share,” he said. “By ‘all’, I mean the players have had their share, the manager has had his share and other people in the club have had their share. That is how things work nowadays if you don’t win the league.”

Here, The Athletic’s Liverpool experts analyse the key figures in the firing line. You can have your say in the poll below.

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Arne Slot

Since the dark days of November, when Liverpool’s wretched run extended to nine defeats in 12 matches, the head coach has been a lightning rod for criticism.

Some have even tried to rewrite history and diminish Slot’s role in the title triumph last season, arguing that it was won with Jurgen Klopp’s team. That argument ignores the tactical tweaks Slot made to propel Liverpool from a third-placed finish in 2023-24 to runaway champions 12 months later.

However, if Slot thought a successful debut season would buy him patience, he was mistaken. Appreciation has been replaced by anger, with a growing section of the fanbase calling for his exit.

The stats are grim. Liverpool have suffered 18 defeats in all competitions this season — their most since 2014-15. This is the first season both Manchester clubs have completed a league double over Liverpool in more than 100 years. It was also the first time in the Premier League era that Liverpool failed to beat any of the promoted teams at home.

There have been factors beyond Slot’s control. He has been dealt a bad hand by some of the recruitment decisions made above him and the scale of the injury crisis that depleted his options.

Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz — the three most expensive signings in a record £450million ($609m at the time) spending spree — have only played 118 minutes together all season.

Dealing with all the fallout from Mohamed Salah’s outburst at Elland Road in December was another unwanted distraction. Salah’s form had been poor and taking the Egyptian out of the team to include an extra midfielder did make them harder to beat. Cody Gakpo, Ibrahima Konate and Alexis Mac Allister losing their way has made Slot’s job harder.

But Slot has failed to get the best out of his squad. It’s not just results that have changed the mood towards him but the uninspiring brand of football, too.

Liverpool have looked like a team without an identity. Far too often, their build-up play has been too slow and predictable with Slot bemoaning their inability to break down deep-lying defences.

Fans want to see Liverpool playing on the front foot and being aggressive, but they rarely press high, winning possession in the final third just 4.1 times per league game this season — their lowest average since 2014-15.

Defensive vulnerability has been an issue that Slot has failed to solve. Liverpool have conceded 18 league goals from set pieces (excluding penalties) this season, their highest figure of the Premier League era. They have also let in eight league goals in the 90th minute or later, each one costing points.

Too often, substitutions have smacked of desperation rather than a coherent plan. Playing Dominik Szoboszlai as a makeshift right-back weakened a midfield already creaking from Mac Allister’s downturn. Ignoring fringe players has led to an overreliance on senior figures, who have looked fatigued.

It would be unfair for Slot to carry the can for this season but he has made mistakes.

James Pearce

The players

If truth be told, only a handful of players can say they’ve excelled this season, so for that reason alone, a degree of blame should be attributed to the regulars who have failed to turn up.

Of the success stories, Szoboszlai is the standout of a small bunch, not only for his Steven Gerrard-like creativity, but his all-action versatility. The Hungarian has scored 13 goals and set up 10 more, becoming the first midfielder to hit double digits in both metrics since Liverpool’s former captain, Gerrard, in the 2013-14 campaign.

Rio Ngumoha has offered excitement and, at 17, has it all in front of him. Ekitike enjoyed plenty of bright moments, Virgil van Dijk made himself available for every game for a second season running and was, by and large, reliable, but after that, it’s largely a story of disappointment.

Mac Allister and Salah suffered the biggest drop-off, Ryan Gravenberch was far from the dominant force of last season, Gakpo’s output fell off a cliff and the two most exciting signings of the summer — Wirtz and Isak — have been way off it for long periods of the season for varying reasons.

Injuries certainly haven’t helped others, including Joe Gomez and Jeremie Frimpong, while there’s a batch of players, including Curtis Jones, Konate and Milos Kerkez, who struggled for consistency.

Even if you’re anti-Slot or believe owner Fenway Sports Group failed with its squad-building, there have to be serious questions asked about the players. They have let standards slip.

When Liverpool needed a saviour, far too often, nobody stepped up.

Gregg Evans

Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes

When he became FSG’s head of football in 2024, Michael Edwards introduced a significant change: for the first time, a head coach rather than a manager would lead Liverpool.

Edwards had previously walked away from his role as Liverpool’s sporting director after Klopp’s power grew. With Klopp subsequently burning himself out and the team’s performances erratic, Edwards made the case that a manager-led operation did not lead to better decisions.

After hiring Richard Hughes, it was the new sporting director’s job to source Klopp’s replacement and Slot’s arrival, with a different title, returned Liverpool to something like its pre-2020 state, when processes were more collaborative.

Slot won the Premier League in his first season and was involved in a hectic transfer window last summer, both in targeting players and speaking to them. Yet it was Hughes’ responsibility to oversee scouting, connect information with the data department, lead negotiations and reach agreements.

Richard Hughes (left) and Michael Edwards wield huge influence (Robin Jones/Getty Images)

A record breaking spend was offset by lots of departures but Hughes, with Edwards operating above him, agreed to the prices that drove lots of attention and increased expectations. And ultimately, few of those signings — if any — can be viewed as unqualified successes a season later. The squad still looks unbalanced, with gaping holes in key areas (particularly in the wide attacking positions) and there is an expectation of more frantic activity this summer.

It isn’t just recruitment, either. Much of the focus of Hughes’ work falls there but it his job to oversee all football departments at the club.

He remains based on the south coast and usually spends a couple of days a week in the north west —would he be better placed to intercept problems if he was on site more often and able to see things with his own eyes?

Edwards, as the all-important football figure at FSG, also has to take his share of responsibility for those big calls not paying off. He may argue that his job — as FSG’s CEO of football — relates to the wider company rather than Liverpool specifically, but given there are no other football elements in that empire (a bone of contention for Edwards, as The Athletic revealed in March), it feels a moot point. 

Simon Hughes

FSG

Failing to spend heavily on transfers had been a criticism directed at Liverpool’s owner, but a record-breaking window last summer ended that conversation.

In truth, FSG only followed the same economic model that has always been in place and as champions, the money Hughes spent had been heavily influenced by the club’s record revenues.

What has followed, however, asks questions about the interests of the decision-makers at FSG. Over the last two months, for example, Anfield has witnessed protests over ticket prices, increasing the frustration among a fanbase already fed up with results and the lack of communication from senior FSG figures, notably principal owner John W Henry. 

Away from the pitch, Edwards has spent the last two years trying to find a European club to add to FSG’s portfolio and give more meaning to his own title. Yet presentations have led nowhere and plans to grow a football empire have been shelved.

What this means for Edwards is unclear but sourcing a new club was one of the main reasons he returned to work for FSG. Focus has fallen on Slot’s future but the contracts of the people who make that decision have a year left to run.

Edwards hired Hughes — they are friends from their time together at Portsmouth when Edwards was an analyst and Hughes was a player. If Edwards leaves, it is difficult to see Hughes staying and he has already been heavily linked with a move to Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia.

The dynamic leaves a sense that the direction of next season might be determined by figures who won’t be around for much longer, yet in the meantime will be allowed to mark their own homework.

It all begs the question: is FSG really paying attention?

Simon Hughes

The medical department

Too often this season, Liverpool’s substitute bench has not made for pretty reading. The frequent lack of impactful, senior options has highlighted the squad’s lack of depth.

A look at their forward line against Tottenham highlighted some of the difficulties Slot has contended with this season — Ngumoha, right-back Frimpong and out-of-form Gakpo. Wirtz (illness), Salah (groin), Isak (groin) and Ekitike (Achilles) were absent.

Last season, Liverpool’s fitness and medical departments were rightly praised for limiting injuries across the squad. Only Alisson, Conor Bradley and Gomez were sidelined for more than 10 league matches. Ruben Peeters arrived with Slot as lead physical performance coach and has worked with Jonathan Power (director of medicine and performance), Conall Murtagh (head of physical performance), Chris Morgan (head of performance physical therapy) and Lee Nobes (head of rehab physiotherapy).

Liverpool have not had a real injury crisis this season until quite recently, with the exception of the well-documented issues at right-back. What has made it feel more extreme is the squad’s make-up, coupled with Slot’s reluctance to use squad players, such as Wataru Endo and Federico Chiesa.

There has been a significant chunk of bad luck. Giovanni Leoni, on debut, Bradley, Endo and Ekitike have all suffered long-term non-contact injuries, and Isak’s leg was broken by a challenge from Tottenham Hotspur’s Micky van de Ven as he scored a goal.

Training is less intense under Slot than it was under Klopp, perhaps helping explain why Liverpool have frequently looked sluggish in games. Another factor could be the delayed start to pre-season due to Jota’s death. New signings from the Bundesliga — Wirtz, Ekitike and Frimpong — have taken time to adapt, with specialised training programmes put in place to help them. Frimpong has suffered several muscle injuries, while Ekitike and Wirtz have looked tired and have frequently cramped up in the final 20 minutes of matches.

While most senior players have remained relatively injury-free, a lot has been asked of them this season. When we look at how on-pitch minutes were shared last season, Liverpool could rely on a larger core of players in “peak” or “experienced” age brackets for consistent minutes.

Compare it to this season and both starting centre-backs and the three first-choice midfielders have all played over 75 per cent of minutes in all competitions. They have missed a combined two games in the Premier League due to injury.

In Europe’s top five leagues, Van Dijk, 34, has played the most minutes of any outfield player (3,240).

Over the past two seasons, six Liverpool players have played 7,000 minutes or more in all competitions – Van Dijk (9,198, the second highest of any outfield player in the top five leagues), Gravenberch (8,188), Szoboszlai (7,986), Salah (7,555), Konate (7,473) and Mac Allister (7,270) – and that doesn’t include their international commitments.

During Slot’s tenure, Liverpool have largely kept key performers fit and available, but a lack of rotation — for whatever reason — can be detrimental to performances.

Andy Jones