English Premier League Champions with Worst Defense, Liverpool Urgently Fix Back Line

BRIGHTON & HOVE, TUESDAY — Liverpool cannot be complacent with their achievement of the English Premier League title for the 2024-2025 season. Without improvements in their defensive line, "The Reds" will struggle to maintain their champion status, and they may even face a decline in the upcoming season.

The 2-3 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion on Tuesday (20/5/2025) early in the morning WIB at the Amex Stadium unveiled the fragile condition of Liverpool's defense. Twice, "The Reds" failed to maintain the lead provided by Harvey Elliot (9th minute) and Dominik Szoboszlai (45+1’). Brighton managed to respond with three goals from Yasin Ayari (32’), Kaoru Mitoma (69’), and Jack Hinshelwood (85’).

As a result of their fourth defeat in the English Premier League this season, Liverpool has recorded itself as the champion with the worst defense. Liverpool still leads the list of teams with the most matches without conceding a goal, totaling 14 matches, but they have already conceded 40 goals.

Liverpool has become the second team in four editions of the English League since it adopted a format of 20 contestants in 1995-1996 to win the championship while conceding a minimum of 40 goals. The other club, Manchester United, has won three times while allowing more than 40 goals. This occurred in the 2012-2013 season with 43 goals, then in 1999-2000 (45 goals), and in the 1996-1997 season (44 goals).

The number of goals conceded has made Arne Slot's Liverpool the first English Premier League team to concede 40 goals since the 2013-2014 season. The last champion to record conceding up to 40 goals was Manchester United in the 2012-2013 edition.

Liverpool's championship achievement is certainly still far below that of Manchester City, which has won four English League trophies from 2020-2021 to 2023-2024. During this period, City has never conceded more than 34 goals. They even only allowed 26 goals during the 2021-2022 season.

The record for the English Premier League with the fewest goals conceded is still held by Chelsea. In the 2004-2005 season, which was Chelsea's first year under Jose Mourinho, "The Blues" conceded only 15 goals in 38 matches.

In order to strengthen their defense line, Liverpool is reported to have reached an agreement with two prospective new wing backs, namely Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez.

Liverpool manager Arne Slot stated that consistency is the key for his squad to become the best team in England this season. However, he acknowledged that the Reds still need significant improvements as their level of play is still far from that of City, who have been champions in the previous four editions of the Premier League.

"We have done many things right this year, but we have not won the league in the same way as City did in the past four seasons. They can close their eyes and win with a 4-0 victory. We are still very close in terms of quality with all the teams we face," said Slot as quoted by the BBC.

“To be 12 points ahead is a big compliment for our players, because the difference in quality of the teams is not that different,” he continued.

Slot stated that the issue of not winning in the last three matches, namely against Chelsea (loss), Arsenal (draw), and Brighton (loss), was not due to the poor performance of the Liverpool squad. The Dutch tactician continues to appreciate the hunger of his players to play offensively in pursuit of three points.

However, Slot emphasized the small mistakes made by his players, which have prevented them from winning again after securing the championship title. Six goals conceded in two matches, averaging two goals per match since becoming champions, indicate a decline in Liverpool's defensive performance.

Brighton took advantage of the poor positioning of Liverpool's wing-back. Mitoma, for instance, became the key player who exploited the weakness on the right side of Liverpool's defense to create two goals for his team in the second half.

"We may have only made a two or three percent error in our defensive duties, but that led to our defeat," said Slot.

Jamie Carragher, former central defender of Liverpool, believes that defense is not the strength of Liverpool in their pursuit of the championship this season. He considers the prowess of the attacking line to be the key for Liverpool to secure their 20th English League title.

"Defensively, Arsenal were the better team (than Liverpool). In terms of goals and creating chances, Liverpool showed they are a team that deserves to be champions. Against Brighton, they just failed to score the third goal," Carragher told Sky Sports.

Although praising the attacking actions of Si Merah, Carragher still emphasized the importance of Liverpool improving their defense. He highlighted the absence of a leadership role in the defensive line when Virgil van Dijk was not playing at the Amex Stadium.

"I want to see more than just (Ibrahima) Konate. Not only to play flawlessly but also in terms of leadership. It will certainly be interesting to watch them play 10 to 15 games without Van Dijk, who is capable of leading from the back, organizing the defense, and making those around him better. So, I hope they (the other defenders) can perform similarly without him (Van Dijk)," said Carragher.

In order to strengthen their defense line, Liverpool is reported to have reached an agreement with two prospective new wing-backs. They are right-back Jeremie Frimpong from Bayer Leverkusen and left-back Milos Kerkez from Bournemouth.

Frimpong will replace Trent Alexander-Arnold, who is set to move to Real Madrid on a free transfer. Meanwhile, Kerkez is an effort by Slot to strengthen the very vulnerable left sector, despite already having Andy Robertson and Konstantinos Tsimikas.

"We have not announced anything yet, so there is no discussion about other players at this time," said Slot when asked about the rumors regarding the arrivals of Frimpong and Kerkez.

Specifically for the right-back position, Liverpool has also extended the contract of Conor Bradley, who is a graduate of their academy. Bradley has appeared in 27 matches across all competitions this season.

He will be at Liverpool at least until the end of the 2028-2029 season. Although Alexander-Arnold is leaving, Bradley acknowledges that the competition for a starting position in Slot's team is not easy.

"I must remain humble and work hard. I have experienced two fantastic years (with the senior team)," he said as reported by the club's website.