Liverpool\u2019s Premier League season continues to look impressive on the surface, but the atmosphere around Anfield is growing increasingly uneasy.<\/p>\n
A disappointing 1\u20131 draw with Burnley stretched our unbeaten run to 12 matches in all competitions, yet the mood at the final whistle spoke volumes.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Match of the Day, Wayne Rooney delivered a candid verdict on our current situation. While he acknowledged Liverpool\u2019s control in games, he questioned the direction of the campaign as a whole.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey may be unbeaten in 12, but six of those games have ended in draws,\u201d Rooney noted, adding that Liverpool \u201chaven\u2019t shown enough consistency since the beginning of the season.\u201d He also highlighted a clear contrast with last year, suggesting we \u201chaven\u2019t played with the same flow\u201d and labelling the moment as \u201ca concern \u2014 though not a crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rooney\u2019s worries echo wider Liverpool debate<\/p>\n
Those remarks will strike a chord after a match in which we fired off 32 shots, posted an xG of 2.95 and forced Martin D\u00fabravka into eight saves.<\/p>\n
Florian Wirtz gave us the lead, but Dominik Szoboszlai striking the bar from the penalty spot proved a turning point in a game we largely dominated.<\/p>\n
Alan Shearer was even more critical, branding the unbeaten run \u201cvery underwhelming\u201d and claiming Liverpool are \u201ca long way from last season\u2019s level.\u201d Still, he was quick to praise Hugo Ekitike, reinforcing the idea that individual quality is not the problem.<\/p>\n
Similar frustrations have been voiced elsewhere, with Lewis Steele pointing out that Liverpool are \u201c17 points worse off than at this stage last season\u201d and describing the football as \u201cdifficult to watch\u201d \u2014 a comparison that strengthens Rooney\u2019s warning.<\/p>\n
Why patience with Slot still matters<\/p>\n
Context cannot be ignored.<\/p>\n
This is only the second season under our first-ever head coach, who delivered the title last year while overseeing major squad changes in the summer.<\/p>\n
Against Burnley, the system worked. The underlying numbers were outstanding, and on another day the result is a comfortable win. Even Steven Gerrard, while stressing that home draws are \u201cunacceptable,\u201d admitted the 47-year-old has brought stability and guided us back into the Champions League places.<\/p>\n
If a supposedly poor season still has Liverpool fourth in January, unbeaten in 12 and alive in three competitions, perspective is essential.<\/p>\n
Criticism is part of the role, but so is patience. At the very least, Slot deserves the remainder of the campaign to continue moulding a team that is creating chances, dominating matches and showing clear signs that results will eventually catch up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Liverpool\u2019s Premier League season continues to look impressive on the surface, but the atmosphere around Anfield is growing increasingly uneasy. A disappointing 1\u20131 draw with Burnley stretched our unbeaten run to 12 matches in all competitions, yet the mood at the final whistle spoke volumes. Speaking on Match of the Day, Wayne Rooney delivered a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":57655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/EOTK-FeaturedHero-Image-Templates-3-13.jpg-1.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57654"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57656,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57654\/revisions\/57656"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/57655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}