James Pearce has highlighted one ‘pitiful’ statistic which encapsulates just how abysmal the 2025/26 Premier League season has been for Liverpool.
Arne Slot’s side fell to their 11th top-flight defeat of the campaign on Sunday as they lost 3-2 to Manchester United, with their first-half performance prompting Roy Keane to describe them as ‘like a bad five-a-side team‘.
The Reds still need just four points from their final three matches to secure Champions League qualification and could potentially finish the job next weekend, depending on results elsewhere, but that would do little to dispel the reality that these past few months have been horrendous on the pitch.
In an article for The Athletic dissecting the defeat at Old Trafford, Pearce shed an unforgiving light on Liverpool’s atrocious return away to teams currently in the Premier League top 10 (as of midday on Monday 4 May).
He wrote: ‘Liverpool’s away record against teams in the top half of the Premier League table is pitiful. With a trip to Villa to come, they have taken two points out of a possible 24. Far too often they have wilted on their travels.
‘The fact they still look destined to secure Champions League football says far more about the inadequacies of the chasing pack rather than any signs of Liverpool progressing in recent months.’
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As of Monday lunchtime, the highest-placed team that the Reds have beaten away in the league this season is Everton in 11th, and even that required a Virgil van Dijk winner nine minutes into stoppage time.
Liverpool collected 13 points from a possible 27 away to top-half finishers in the Premier League last term, and that record includes the caveat that two of the defeats (Chelsea and Brighton) came after the title had already been secured.
In this campaign, their only points on the road against current top-10 teams were collected in the space of five days at the start of January. While a draw at Arsenal was respectable, it came just after a prospective win at Fulham was tossed away deep into added time, which in itself sums up our season.
If the league table were to finish as it currently stands and the Reds don’t win at Villa Park the weekend after next, to go through the entire campaign without winning away to another top-half side would be a terrible indictment of Slot and his players.
That the top-10 away record could plausibly be two points from a possible 27 would be downright embarrassing, and would perfectly capture just how horrendous this season has been, even if we do ultimately salvage Champions League qualification.
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The decline is not rocket science. We continued gegenpressing and used 433 last season. Our players benefitted from this during klopp era. We only bought chiesa. Fast forward this season, we went to 4231 with no more gegenpressing. Old players leave and new players come. The trusted winning formula is discarded…
This coming from James pearce FSGs biggest fan. No good being critical of the manager slot who FSG won’t sack. Irrelevant moaning about not beating any of the top ten while never ever going against FSG. Even after the super league James pearce would not criticise FSG.
He’s on the payroll of John w Henry. The biggest are licker of anyone connected with Liverpool football club.
If I had my way James pearce would be drop kicked as far away as humanly possible from Liverpool football club.
If you are not part of the solution your part of the problem. The biggest problem at Liverpool is FSG. And the clueless like James pearce.
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