Liverpool’s latest type has prompted acquainted questions on requirements, decline, and whether or not this season represents an unprecedented collapse for a reigning champion.
Sunday’s late defeat to Manchester Metropolis at Anfield solely intensified that feeling, with Erling Haaland’s 92nd-minute penalty ending a 109-game unbeaten league run when scoring first at dwelling and pushing us additional off the Champions League locations.
However historical past means that this example, whereas uncomfortable, just isn’t distinctive.
Liverpool ECHO journalist Ian Doyle highlighted a putting comparability on X that reframes the narrative round Liverpool’s present league type.
“#LFC on run of six wins in 20 league video games as defending champions isn’t nice. Nevertheless it’s not their worst,” Doyle wrote.
“In 1980/81 they gained six out of 21 halfway by the season. With Bob Paisley in cost. Whereas attempting to rebuild a crew. They completed fifth that season and gained European Cup.”
That season, now remembered as one of the profitable in Liverpool’s European historical past, was constructed on a league marketing campaign that appeared deeply underwhelming in isolation.
Liverpool title defences have hardly ever been easy
#LFC on run of six wins in 20 league video games as defending champions is not nice. Nevertheless it’s not their worst. In 1980/81 they gained six out of 21 halfway by the season. With Bob Paisley in cost. Whereas attempting to rebuild a crew. They completed fifth that season and gained European Cup
— Ian Doyle (@IanDoyleSport) February 9, 2026
The concept a dominant league season ensures momentum the next 12 months has hardly ever utilized to Liverpool.
Wanting on the seasons following league titles underlines how typically the quick marketing campaign after success turns into difficult somewhat than comfy.
After profitable the league in 2020, Liverpool completed third the next season, exited the FA Cup in spherical 4, and reached the Champions League quarter-finals.
The 1990 title was adopted by a second-place end and an early FA Cup exit, whereas European soccer was not even an possibility as a result of ban.
In 1988-89, Liverpool once more completed second, gained the FA Cup, and had no European marketing campaign to fall again on.
The sample repeats all through the membership’s historical past.
Even the 1980-81 marketing campaign, now considered by the glow of European Cup success, noticed Liverpool end fifth within the league whereas profitable simply six of their first 21 matches.
That context issues when assessing a season that’s nonetheless alive on a number of fronts.
Why Liverpool’s present scenario doesn’t demand panic
Liverpool sit sixth within the desk, 5 factors off fourth, with cup competitions nonetheless providing real alternatives.
The Manchester Metropolis defeat felt catastrophic largely due to the way it occurred somewhat than what it represents structurally.
Jamie Carragher centered on particular person errors, notably Alisson’s late penalty concession, as emblematic of moments undermining Liverpool’s season somewhat than systemic collapse.
Gary Neville supplied a extra measured evaluation, describing the end result as “a tricky take” however stressing that Liverpool dominated the second half and mustn’t enable the chaos of the ending to outline the marketing campaign.
That steadiness between frustration and perspective is essential.
Liverpool have endured poor title defences earlier than and have completed exterior the highest 4 after profitable the league.
We have now rebuilt, recalibrated, and nonetheless emerged with main trophies.
Historical past doesn’t assure success but it surely does present that dangerous runs, even dangerous seasons, are usually not computerized proof that the whole lot is damaged.
And Liverpool’s previous proves that writing off a marketing campaign too early typically says extra about emotion than actuality.
Be part of our channel of readers on WhatsApp to get the day’s prime tales straight to your cell
