Season Review: 2024/25
Your annual report card.
Alright, time to reflect.
It’s been a long season on Merseyside, and it ended in the most perfect way on Sunday afternoon. Virgil van Dijk lifted the Premier League title, Steven Gerrard, Kenny Dalglish and Jürgen Klopp watched from the stands, and Mohamed Salah hoovered up another 25 awards. Magic.
I mean, I didn’t quite expect Ryan Gravenberch to get sent off, but you can’t have everything. It was a great end to what has been a truly memorable campaign, but what did we expect in August, and what happened along the way to change the landscape?
Well, about nine months ago, roughly 24 hours before Liverpool started their season away to Ipswich Town, I shared my preview of the campaign. You can read that here.
It’s interesting looking back. You can learn a lot by taking a glance at what you expected to happen and comparing it with what actually did. So below, you can read my conclusion from that piece:
So overall, where do we stand? Well, as I said above, I don’t think Liverpool will finish below third. But in terms of the ceiling of the team, it feels like that depends entirely on Arne Slot’s management considering we’re yet to see any new faces at Anfield.
Liverpool averaged over 20 shots per match last season, while facing about 11 on the defensive side. I think both ends will be quieter this time around, and I’d be happy with that, aiming for an average of around 17 shots while giving away less than ten to the opposition in an ideal world.
If the Reds can post dominant numbers like that while fielding their best players on a regular basis, we should be absolutely fine, even without conducting any transfer business.
Liverpool performed very close to title-winning level for most of last season, and that’s despite the blemishes and imperfections that Slot has been attempting to eradicate this summer.
You never know in this sport, but I think Liverpool are more likely to be challenging for the title in March than fighting for a place in the top four. In my head, we’re unlikely outsiders. Underdogs. Dark horses. And that’s all you need.
Not bad. I’m pretty happy with my stance back then, especially considering we knew very little about how Slot would navigate the Premier League calendar, which is just far more demanding than the Eredivisie.
So it’s kinda difficult to apply numbers to this post, because Liverpool guaranteed the title almost a month ago and haven’t won a match since. Over that period, performances have naturally taken a hit, which has impacted our season averages across certain areas.
It’s funny, actually. Liverpool’s three worst defensive showings of the season — based on xG faced — all happened after securing first place. Against Chelsea, Arsenal and Brighton and Hove Albion. That’s what a lack of edge will do to you.
Given that, we can’t really use end-of-season data. So I’m going to rewind to how the landscape looked after the Reds beat Tottenham Hotspur by five goals to one, when Slot’s men officially claimed top spot.
The numbers at that time reflected what I anticipated in August. A quieter attack, and a quieter defence. And as a result, more control over proceedings, fewer injuries — perhaps due to a reduced intensity from week to week — and Liverpool scoring the first goal more often.
I covered all of that stuff in detail after beating Spurs last month. You can read that piece here. But overall, looking inside at what Liverpool could influence, I’d put this title win down to a few things.
Irreplaceable players showcasing flawless availability. A more considered approach to using possession, resulting in a more stable defence. The renaissance of Mohamed Salah, who delivered an all-time season. A more streetwise approach to game management. The best squad depth in the division. And the ability to score twice on your worst day.
That’s your cocktail. All of that stuff, placed in a blender. On the rocks.
So Liverpool deserve their flowers. No doubt about it. Slot pushed his boys to run at 90-point pace for most of the season. They ended up falling noticeably short of that total — eventually amassing just two more points than last season after 38 bouts — but so what? It’s not Slot’s fault that his team only needed 34 games to become champions.
That brings us to Manchester City and Arsenal. I opted against factoring them into the equation when I wrote How Liverpool Did It just last month. But this is your review of everything. And those two sides falling off neighbouring cliffs simply cannot be ignored.
Arsenal ended up 15 points worse than last term, with City losing 20 points having claimed four titles in a row under Pep Guardiola. Some of their issues were self-inflicted, others not so much.
Injuries, for example, you can’t do much about. Rodri, who still holds the Ballon d'Or, missed the entire campaign. John Stones made six starts. Martin Ødegaard missed two decisive months. Bukayo Saka missed over three, with Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli picking up knocks at the same time, forcing Mikel Arteta to field Mikel Merino up front. Very funny.
Liverpool had their own setbacks, of course, but Slot always had the option of a decent support act to call upon. Salah, Van Dijk and Gravenberch didn’t miss a beat. And crucially, the Reds never really had to compromise their blueprint to cope.
Arsenal finished at the top of the red cards table with six, too. That’s on them for being a gang of weirdos, of course, but it’s also the sort of thing that probably won’t happen again next term. And if a few more decisions had gone in their favour since August, the race probably wouldn’t have been quite as comfortable.
On the other hand, I do think City and Arsenal deserve a ton of criticism for their recruitment decisions last year. I’ve talked about the former quite a lot, with Txiki Begiristain — who sits above Guardiola — becoming increasingly negligent ahead of his departure this summer.
Losing Julián Alvarez was tough. He essentially got replaced internally by Oscar Bobb and Savinho, who joined from another club under the City Football Group umbrella. The former got injured, and the latter is far from the finished product.
Begiristain allowing City to get collectively old was his biggest oversight. Kyle Walker, İlkay Gündoğan, Kevin De Bruyne, Mateo Kovačić, Bernardo Silva. All antiques. What happens when you have to run back towards your own goal?
As for Arsenal, the Gunners sold pretty well but invested in Merino and Riccardo Calafiori, who was prone to picking up injuries in his homeland. A habit that has persisted in London. Shock.
Merino was the Granit Xhaka replacement after Arteta started using Kai Havertz — his original replacement — as a number nine. I’m confident Set Piece FC focused a bit too much on the fact Merino is massive and excellent in the air when they bought him. He’ll turn 29 next month. Tick tock.
So City got old and toothless in the final third after their summer window, and Arsenal got enormous and — even more — defensive. A poor season always tends to follow a bad window. Check what happened after Liverpool signed Darwin Núñez and Fábio Carvalho. Check what happened after Liverpool replaced Luis Suárez with Mario Balotelli and Rickie Lambert.
All in all, looking back at what I previewed in August, I think it’s fair to say Slot lived up to his end of the bargain by fine tuning Klopp’s body of work and getting more from the group that came really close just 12 months ago. And I probably should’ve been harsher on our two biggest rivals.
Liverpool are the best team in the country right now. They are deserved champions, but it’s worth noting the gap to Arsenal probably isn’t ten points in reality. Not for me, at least. The Gunners are worth more. They just stood on too many rakes this season. Let’s hope they stand on even more next time around.
Three months and counting until I preview 2025/26. Lots can change between now and then, but I’m inclined to think we’ll be favourites going into next season. Being at the pinnacle is cool. Let’s try to stay there.
What a ride.
Great season for sure and your coverage was fantasticly insightful. There are only three minor issues coming out of it that I observed.
Longer preparation time did not yield better performances, e.g. Everton away, ManU home, PSG away, Nottingham away. The latter disappointed me the most given Slot‘s fixation. The team generally worked best in game 2/3 of a 5 match cluster.
Man-to-man press still causes us issues in build up, especially if the opponent is patient and lets our goaly stand on the ball. We tended to go long (bad) and were not able to win second balls (even worse). Our own pressing also evaporated in these games, often due to the opponent being able to draw fouls or simply play long into channels.
Offensive set pieces. To the point that our guys seem to lack believe.
Excellent Simpsons rake reference there.