When Will You Be Champions or How to Heal Wounds and Trauma, Liverpool?

Liverpool was still eyeing the achievement of "treble winners" or three championship titles earlier last week. Within less than a week, Mohamed Salah and his teammates were left with only one title to pursue. They even lost one of the titles with their worst performance. What is happening with Liverpool?

That question bombarded head coach Arne Slot following the English League Cup final at Wembley Stadium, London, in the early hours of Monday (17/3/2025) WIB. Liverpool performed below standard in every aspect, making the narrow 1-2 defeat to Newcastle United appear surprisingly positive.

“The Reds”, as Liverpool are nicknamed, could and deserved to lose by a bigger margin. “It was one of Liverpool’s worst performances in a final. They couldn’t match the intensity of the opposition, especially the physicality,” legendary Liverpool defender of the 2000s, Jamie Carragher, told Sky Sports.

There is much speculation about Liverpool's anticlimax. One of them is fatigue. They had just gone through a 120-minute battle plus a penalty shootout against Paris Saint-Germain in the Round of 16 of the Champions League early Wednesday morning. During extra time, they appeared to have run out of energy.

Slot is often praised as a coach with the best minute-management skills. However, this was not evident over the past week. He fielded almost the same starting lineup in the matches against PSG and Newcastle. Only Trent Alexander-Arnold, apart from the goalkeeper, was rotated—and that was due to injury.

"Wembley Stadium is large, very exhausting. If it goes into extra time, I would be surprised if Liverpool can hold on. This is due to the factor of their previous match (against PSG). Moreover, they lost in that match," said former England national team player, Paul Merson.

As a note, Wembley Stadium has a length of 105 meters and a width of 69 meters. The field is larger compared to Liverpool's home ground (101 meters x 68 meters), Anfield Stadium, which was used for the match against PSG.

Even so, Slot dismissed that speculation. According to him, the match against Newcastle is not about which team runs more. Player stamina does not play a significant role. The match is determined by ball possession duels, especially aerial duels, as Newcastle often forces such situations to occur.

Slot said Newcastle were a stronger team in the air. If there were ten aerial duels, the opposing team would win nine. That was a bit of hyperbole, but Newcastle did dominate the air throughout the final, winning 68 percent of their aerial duels.

In retrospect, Slot's statement is debatable. Liverpool have met Newcastle twice before. They have always been able to overcome duels on the ground and in the air. The last time at Anfield, in late February, Liverpool even dominated victory in aerial duels up to 64 percent.

So, is Liverpool's problem physical fatigue or the opponent's playing style? Both of these things could have an impact, but there is actually a bigger problem. Slot's team seems to have not fully recovered from their penalty shootout defeat against PSG. They are experiencing mental fatigue.

On the other hand, Newcastle squad comes with the ambition to end the seven-decade title drought. Bruno Guimaraes and his colleagues want to pay for the defeat in the final match two years ago, in the same competition and place. That's what makes their eyes "light up" in every duel.

Mentally, it's always difficult to judge. But if you look at the results and the performance (today), you can probably feel that (mentality issues) might have an impact on us.

Newcastle players wanted to win more, reflected in their expressive celebrations after winning a duel. They repeatedly punched the air, as if scoring a goal, after winning back the ball. That passion connected with the tens of thousands of supporters in attendance.

Salah, another proof. The “Egyptian King” who has always been relied upon throughout the season, was powerless throughout the match. According to Opta, for the first time at Liverpool, Salah did not produce a shot or create a chance when the match lasted more than 90 minutes.

Salah’s anticlimax was understandable given what had happened in the previous few days. He was devastated after fellow Reds Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones missed penalties against PSG. Salah was left hunched over, separating himself from the rest of the field.

Slot could not deny when talking about mentality. "Mentally, it's always difficult to judge. But if you look at the result and the performance (today), you can probably feel that (mentality issues) maybe affect us," explained the coach.

Liverpool's season is not over yet. They can still lift one trophy at the end of the season, namely the Premier League. Liverpool are almost certain to be champions after leading second-placed Arsenal by 12 points with nine weeks left. However, after the worst week, everything is gray for them.

Slots will face their biggest confidence crisis since arriving last summer. They have never lost two games in a row all season. Liverpool have not only lost back-to-back games this week, but they have also lost two titles at once. That shock is something to be wary of.

Liverpool must learn from history. They suffered a similar setback last season, Jurgen Klopp’s final year as manager, but were unable to recover. The tragedy began in April, when they were well on their way to delivering the treble for Klopp.

Suddenly, Liverpool were shocked by Atalanta and were eliminated from the Europa League. The downward trend was carried over to the domestic league. They only won once in four matches, including two defeats in between. Finally, "The Reds" only presented the League Cup trophy that had been won in February.

As for the players who felt the downfall at the end of the Klopp era, Slot is still relying on this season. If at that time the Liverpool squad dreamed as high as possible to end the Klopp era sweetly, this time they are ambitious to achieve the best results at the beginning of Slot's leadership.

Expectations were very high last season and this season came because the Reds were almost perfect for two-thirds of the season. Then, when results started to go wrong, they slumped and struggled to recover. The higher the expectations, the more painful it is when you fall.

Liverpool's chances of winning the league this season are so great that The Analyst has written an article titled "When Will Liverpool Win the Premier League Title?" However, before that is answered, there is a more important question. How will Slot heal Liverpool from new wounds and last season's trauma? (AP/REUTERS)