Dreams Collide: Liverpool Triumphs in Heart-stopping Final!
This Liverpool side have looked to be heading in the wrong direction for at least an entire calendar year now.
LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 16: Newcastle United player Alexander Isak celebrates after scoring the second goal as Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk reacts dejectedly during the Carabao Cup Final between Liverpool and Newcastle United at Wembley Stadium on March 16, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images) | Getty Images Liverpool have failed to live up to expectation throughout the 2025-26 season, with last season’s Premier League title winners given a £450M transfer market glow up last summer and expected to be in the title mix but instead now on the fringes of Champions League qualification with play best described as dull, uninspired, ineffective. Everyone agrees this isn’t good.
That this side lacks a tactical identity. That these former mentality monsters are prone to late-game collapses and are regularly outworked by their opponents. And most agree this situation has roots that reach back into last season.
One thing people don’t quite agree on is where to mark the starting point. A popular one for many, though, is the 2025 League Cup final. There, a Liverpool side that had flown through the autumn and was widely considered to be both the best team in England and Europe on the strength of that were outworked by a Newcastle group that ran further, fought harder, and left as deserved 2-1 League Cup winners.
Before that, there had been other stumbles. An early January 2025 stretch that saw Arne Slot’s Reds draw with Manchester United and Nottingham Forest in the Premier League around a first leg League Cup semi defeat to Tottenham—though they would later fight back to win the tie in leg two—is a much cited start to their decline. Most, though, wrote it off as an understandable dip for a side that had all but won the league.