This article first appeared in Forum, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on November 3, 2025 - November 9, 2025

A year ago, Liverpool was riding high, making light of replacing the irreplaceable Jurgen Klopp — Jurgen who? Top of the English Premier League (EPL) and Champions League group table (with a 100% record), the Reds looked invincible. And all this with a little-known new manager and after spending just £10 million on a little-used player in the transfer window.

Although they would bow out of Europe to the eventual winner, Paris Saint-Germain, in the Round of 16, the EPL title was won at a canter, by 10 points. It was a remarkable achievement that transcended football as the ultimate example of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

But when cracks appeared in the summer, they made the fateful decision to do more than fix them. Embracing another time-honoured mantra, “If you don’t move forward, you stand still,” Liverpool splashed a record £446 million (RM2.5 billion) on transfers.

But we now know how this is turning out. The Reds are seventh on the EPL table, having lost four games in a row — as many as they did in the whole of last season. And around half of that money has gone to two attackers who have yet to score a goal between them. At £10 million and still underused, Federico Chiesa is offering better value.

All this has come as a great shock to the club and the wider game. Accustomed to new signings slotting in as if to the manor born, we are wondering if the recruitment gurus have lost their Midas touch. And fans, inured to the frugality of owners FSG, are asking if these erstwhile Scrooges have experienced an epiphany.

The club has been quick to explain that it could afford to spend because of its previous thrift, while player sales offset the outlay by over £200 million. Still, it seemed out of character and not the Liverpool way.

The most expensive acquisition is Alexander Isak at a British record of £125 million from Newcastle United. Liverpool’s interest was well-known, but so was its reluctance to pay the £150 million that the Magpies wanted for their Swedish striker. What was not quite appreciated was the lengths to which Isak would go to engineer his dream move.

Liverpool looked elsewhere and signed Hugo Ekitike, a French hitman from Eintracht Frankfurt, for £79 million — just over half of Isak’s asking price. Meanwhile, the Swede went on strike, refusing to train with Newcastle, but the Magpies were not for turning.

Only when the new season began, with the window still open, did they say he could leave once a replacement was found. The summer-long search became ever more frantic, with eight bids for five strikers falling short.

Finally, they landed Yoane Wissa and Nick Woltemade, and Liverpool renewed its interest in Isak. The clubs eventually agreed to a deal for £125 million and “player power” won. But Arne Slot now has another problem: two expensive No 9s for one position.

You can’t help but feel that Isak was not needed and, ironically, it is Ekitike who has made by far the biggest impact of all the recruits. Isak, who has never been match-fit after missing pre-season training at both clubs, is now injured for an indefinite period.

Another headache for the Dutchman is Florian Wirtz, the so-called generational talent from Bayer Leverkusen. “Florian Flop” headlines have yet to appear, but they’re being drafted. The German wunderkind has not come close to justifying his enormous £116 million fee. Lightweight, he looks lost in action, has three assists but no goals — and he was supposed to be the playmaker.

The current squad is top-heavy, with a scary lack of depth at the back, and unrecognisable from the smooth-running machine that strolled to the title last season. It has already been bullied out of its stride by the likes of Brentford and Bournemouth.

Where rivals have gone for size and power, Liverpool has bought diminutive full-backs and flying wingers. Former centre-back Jamie Carragher says: “They don’t have enough physicality.”

You also feel that in their haste to offset the outlay, they let go of players they should have kept. Jarell Quansah was sold for £30 million, which was a good fee for a youngster, but now they are short of cover at the back.

It was bad luck that they didn’t prise Marc Guehi out of Crystal Palace. But the priority seemed to be getting the price down rather than getting the player on board. When, at the last minute, the deal fell through, it was too late to find a replacement. Another £5 million a week earlier would have sufficed.

To be fair, they weren’t to know that the young Italian, Giovanni Leoni, would tear his ACL and be out for the season, leaving only the injury-prone Joe Gomez as back-up. But this sort of stuff happens.

Real Madrid-bound Trent Alexander-Arnold had to be replaced, but Jeremie Frimpong, a slight, lightning-fast wingback, looks better attacking than he does defending. Nor can he replicate his predecessor’s pinpoint passing, which is sorely missed by Mo Salah.

There’s a lack of height at left-back, too, where Milos Kerkez was supposed to replace an ageing Andy Robertson. The £45 million Hungarian has looked nothing like the player who rampaged up the wing for Bournemouth. Liverpool’s vaunted solidity at the back has become an open invitation.

They had to offload players, and patience had finally run out with Darwin Nunez, a rare and expensive failure, but they recouped most of his fee. Another lost attacker was Luis Diaz, for whom Bayern Munich paid £70 million, an excellent price for a 28-year-old who wanted to go. But they are missing his ability to carry the ball, his tenacity, and his goals.

But what no one could foresee was the tragic death of Diogo Jota, in a car accident while returning for pre-season training. A devastating loss on a human as well as playing level, and from which some players are said to not have fully recovered, such was the Portuguese’s popularity.

At least they renewed the lucrative contracts of their two untouchable stars, Salah (33) and Virgil van Dijk (34), despite both being in the pensionable category. They are costing a fortune (£400,000 a week apiece in wages) but would have been even more expensive to replace. Neither has reached previous heights, Salah especially.

Slot is at a loss to explain the sudden downturn. The masterstroke of sticking Ryan Gravenberch into the No 6 berth is no longer enough of a shield. Gravenberch, who, along with Dominik Szoboszlai, has been among the best performers so far, is not getting support from an out-of-sorts and under-par Alexis Mac Allister.

It’s not reassuring to hear the manager say, “Teams seem to have a certain playing style against us, which is a very good strategy to play, and we haven’t found an answer yet.”

What began in August as “still winning while playing badly” turned into a blip, and can now no longer be denied as a crisis. The title has already been lost.

It could get worse. After Crystal Palace piled on the misery in their Carabao Cup match in the early hours of Thursday in Malaysia, they face a reviving Aston Villa at home before Real Madrid and Manchester City. Any hopes that the 5-1 victory against Frankfurt had been the reset desperately needed were quickly extinguished with another contender for their worst performance of the season at Brentford.

Clearly, there is an awful lot to fix.

Bob Holmes is a long-time sportswriter specialising in football

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