LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 06: Alexis Mac Allister of Liverpool celebrates scoring his team’s first goal with teammate Ryan Gravenberch during the Premier League match between Fulham FC and Liverpool FC at Craven Cottage on April 06, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
Getty Images
Liverpool returned to winning ways with a 2-0 win against Aston Villa at the weekend, having lost its last four games in the Premier League prior. In order to arrest the slump, manager Arne Slot reverted to the tried and tested setup that had helped them to domestic title glory last season.
Defeats to Crystal Palace, Chelsea, Manchester United, and Brentford in the league, on top of losses to Galatasaray in the Champions League and Palace again in the EFL Cup, put last season’s English champion and its manager in a tough situation.
Liverpool spent big in the 2025 summer transfer window, and there are several marquee signings Slot could have looked to in an attempt to turn things around, but they appear to have been part of the problem more than the solution. Instead, he turned to the players who had been successful for him in his first season in English football in 2024/25.
Nine of the ten outfield players who started against Villa were present in the squad last season. The place of 24/25 starting right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold, who left for Real Madrid in the summer, was taken by his once deputy, Conor Bradley, while Hugo Ekitike started up front as the only new signing to appear in the outfield selection.
Goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvilli is another new arrival and took his place between the posts in the absence of injured club legend Alisson, but other than that, it was last season’s team.
It looked like last season, too. The team lined up in the 4-3-3 formation, which uses the right-sided midfielder, Dominik Szoboszlai, as one who can move to join the forward line in attack and defense, while the familiar pair of Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister operated behind or alongside him, depending on the phase of play. It will sometimes be termed 4-2-3-1 due to Szoboszlai’s often advanced role, but Slot himself calls it 4-3-3.
Ekitike’s presence as the sole new signing in this team made sense. He’s the only one of the new arrivals who has settled, and he fits well as the focal point between right winger Mohamed Salah and left winger Cody Gakpo. He’s also able to drop deep to receive the ball, as Liverpool’s striker would often do last season.
Andy Robertson returned at left-back in place of the struggling Milos Kerkez, and the center-back pairing of Virgil Van Dijk and Ibraima Konaté completed the more familiar-looking eleven.
The result was also more familiar when compared to recent slipups, as Liverpool ran out 2-0 winners in a game featuring goals from Salah and Gravenberch.
It was an encouraging performance from Salah, who had scored a brilliant goal in the defeat to Brentford, but was now able to celebrate finding the net alongside a winning performance. Gravenberch, too, looked back to his best back in the team after injury.
It was a morale-boosting home win for Slot and his players, who might be experiencing a sense of relief alongside the joy of victory.
Liverpool will be expected to bed in its expensive new signings quickly, especially when it comes to the $170 million Isak and $134 million Wirtz. At the moment, though, the solution to turning around their tricky start to the new season is to return to the familiar names from last year.
Spending so much money on several new players and not introducing them straight away will, in itself, invite pressure and criticism, but Slot and Liverpool will be happy to view these signings as part of a long-term plan if sticking with established players helps them keep winning in the short term.
When the team is combining league play with midweek Champions League matches, as it will be doing for much of the period between now and January, there will be plenty of chances for rotation, and the likes of Wirtz and Isak might be better suited for the European fixtures.
The games don’t get any easier, as it’s Real Madrid up next in the Champions League, followed by Manchester City in the Premier League, but Slot’s team selection decisions might have just become a little clearer, and the moments for rotation a little more obvious.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesnalton/2025/11/03/liverpool-returns-to-familiar-players-and-tactics-for-premier-league-win/
