With the curtain now drawn on the 2024/25 campaign, it’s time to reflect on Liverpool’s first season under new head coach Arne Slot. The Dutchman arrived at Anfield tasked with ushering in a new era following the departure of long-time manager and huge fan favourite, Jürgen Klopp, and anticipation was high to see how the team would adapt to his style of football.
In this review, we’ll take a close look at how the Reds performed across all competitions under their new manager and how loyal Liverpool supporters viewed the campaign.
Premier League
Having finished 3rd in 2023-24 during Klopp’s farewell season, most Liverpool fans set Slot’s main objective as a top-four finish in the league (or rather top five, given the extra Champions League place). Very few thought the Dutchman would guide the Reds to only their second-ever Premier League title, especially when they began the season at 7/1 odds to do so.
By sheer coincidence, Liverpool scored and conceded the same number of league goals this season as they did in 2023-24. Even their points tally was very similar (84 vs 82). If you were to be extra critical, you might point out that the 84 points secured under Slot is regularly not enough to win the league. Indeed, it’s the lowest number of points recorded by a league champion since Leicester (81) in 2015-16.
This simple look at Liverpool’s points total does not factor in that they took their foot off the gas with several weeks to go. The Merseysiders secured the title after battering Spurs 5-1 and after this point, Slot began rotating his squad and letting them go on holiday. This resulted in the Reds collecting just two points from the last possible 12. They were not the easiest fixtures, admittedly, but a motivated and full-strength side would have surely mustered more than this.
So, if we were to excuse May’s drop in form, it is hard to rate the campaign much lower than extremely impressive.
Champions League
Defeat in the round of 16 meant Liverpool did not come close to Champions League success this year, but it is hard to be at all critical of their effort on the continent. In the league phase, the Reds were exceptional, finishing top of the 36-team table thanks to a record of seven wins and one loss. Even the sole defeat, against PSV, was only a result of Slot making nine changes, as safe passage to the last 16 was already secured.
Having been virtually faultless in this initial stage, Liverpool’s reward for their supremacy was a tie against PSG. The French outfit, who grew as the competition went on, proved extremely difficult for the Reds to contain. Liverpool fortuitously grabbed a 1-0 win in Paris, but their opponents earned a more than deserved equaliser on aggregate at Anfield.
With no more goals to come, the Parisiens won the tie through a penalty shootout. Although second-best across both legs, criticism of Liverpool would be unjustified here. PSG are a truly exceptional side and losing narrowly to them should not be a source of shame. Luis Enrique’s men beat three other Premier League clubs in the competition (Man City, Aston Villa, Arsenal) before demolishing Inter 5-0 in the final.
Had Liverpool managed to avoid PSG until the final, it would have been no surprise at all to see them in Munich, but sometimes the draw can just be unkind. It certainly was for Slot and co this time around.
FA Cup
The FA Cup is the only competition for which Liverpool deserve a low mark, and a very low one at that. After comfortably seeing off Accrington Stanley in the third round, the Reds were drawn away to struggling Championship outfit Plymouth Argyle. A team sat rock bottom of England’s second tier should not have posed many difficulties for Liverpool, but they did.
A large chunk of the blame must go to Slot for this, as the Dutchman named 10 changes to his starting XI for the contest. This weakened Liverpool side should still have been more than good enough to beat Plymouth, but it gave the hosts a far better chance of an upset than they would’ve had otherwise. Determined to seize the opportunity, Plymouth put in a battling display to secure a shock 1-0 win, leaving the Reds very much red-faced.
League Cup
Fans were denied a long cup run in the FA Cup and Champions League, but they did get one in the League Cup. Not handed the easiest of routes to the final, Slot’s men had to beat four Premier League teams before booking their place at Wembley. They won all the ties without requiring penalties and claimed an emphatic 4-1 aggregate win over Tottenham in the semi-finals.
Liverpool were the 1/3 favourites for the final, but they were up against a very capable Newcastle side who had hammered Arsenal 4-0 on aggregate in the previous round. Losing this final was not an embarrassment by any means, but fans were frustrated at how poorly their side performed during the contest. The Reds managed just two shots on target during the entire match, one of which was Federico Chiesa’s late consolation.
One bad final is hardly cause for concern, but Liverpool fans will be hoping Slot can oversee a much better performance the next time the Reds end up in a cup final.
What Do the Fans Think?
A survey conducted by The Athletic, asked fans of each Premier League club how satisfied they were with the season just gone. Liverpool fans had the fourth highest percentage of very satisfied fans (89%) while 10.5% marked themselves down as just regular ‘satisfied’. The remaining 0.5% selected dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. While it is possible there are some genuinely disgruntled Reds fans out there, it is also possible this 0.5% did not take the survey seriously.
The 10.5% figure that put themselves down as satisfied, rather than very satisfied, appears legitimate enough, though. Although winning the Premier League for only the second-ever time was naturally a major cause for celebration, you can see why some harder-to-please fans might not be fully content. For one, losing in a cup final, even if it is just the League Cup, is always painful, especially when your side fails to show up and was the clear favourite.
There has also been the departure of vice-captain Trent Alexander-Arnold, who ran down his contract at the club. Although the Reds look like they might manage to recoup £10m for him, this is still little compensation for a world-class player who has been at the club since he was a boy. For some fans, the departure has taken the gloss off what would have otherwise been a ‘very satisfying’ season.