19 hours ago
13
It was after Liverpool's 4-1 defeat by PSV Eindhoven at Anfield in November that Steven Gerrard said his old team just kept on "bleeding".
A ninth defeat in 12 matches for Liverpool was inflicted that night, but Liverpool have stemmed the painful flow and are now 10 games unbeaten since being embarrassed by the Dutch champions.
With a spirited display in Thursday's goalless draw against leaders Arsenal, Arne Slot's side became the first visiting team to take a Premier League point at Emirates Stadium since Manchester City in September.
Conor Bradley's first-half effort which struck the crossbar was the closest either side went to scoring, while Liverpool were the better team in the second half with 66% possession.
Without a recognised striker, however, they lacked a focal point to their attacks.
Had Hugo Ekitike been fit enough to feature, the visitors could perhaps have taken the win, though this was still a decent night for Liverpool.
After poor showings in recent draws against Leeds and Fulham, last season's champions delivered a performance from which Slot can take plenty of positives.
Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch were solid in midfield and Milos Kerkez had arguably his best game for the club as he dealt superbly with the threat of Bukayo Saka.
Defensively, Liverpool prevented Arsenal having an attempt in the second half until stoppage time. Mikel Arteta's side have now failed to score against Liverpool in both games this season.
"I think Arne Slot will be absolutely delighted with the performance of the players," said ex-Reds forward Daniel Sturridge on Sky Sports.
"You've got to give him credit for his game plan. They weathered the storm for the first 20 minutes. After that, their work rate, how tenacious they were, it was a very experienced performance and they showed why they are champions.
"They lacked the cutting edge up front but had very positive moments. Jeremie Frimpong was a threat all night but missed the final pass. Florian Wirtz was very good, picked up a load of pockets and was very clean tonight. The list goes on. The defence was magnificent.
"They stopped attacks all night and I think the manager and players should be very proud of themselves. They performed exceptionally."
The bleeding may have stopped but the concern for Liverpool is that they are still silently suffering. For the first time since March 2010 versus Wigan Athletic, they failed to have a shot on target in a Premier League match.
This was their 600th game since then.
The statistics alone tell a story. Liverpool average 1.5 goals per Premier League game this season, compared to 2.3 last season and 2.3 in 2023-24 under Jurgen Klopp. Their expected goals per game (xG) went from 2.4 in Klopp's last season to 2.2 in Slot's first season and is at 1.5 this season.
That reflects the quality of the chances they are creating and the numbers are significantly down.
When it comes to shots, that figure has dropped from 20.8 per game to 17.1 to 14.7 season on season. For shots on target, it goes from 7.3 per game in 2023-24 to 6.1 in 2024-25 and down to 4 this season.
Away from the numbers, the eye test alone should be sufficient. Slot is the first to admit his side struggle against low blocks.
"I've said 150 times already that against certain playing styles, we're a very good team, and against certain playing styles we struggle," Slot told Sky Sports.
"Maybe you could even see that - although people are now positive we kept the ball so long - but even against the low block of Arsenal, we struggled to create chances. So that is something we would like to do better.
"That's one of the reasons we're so many points behind them."
In this fixture last season, Liverpool went toe-to-toe in a thrilling 2-2 draw. To watch Mohamed Salah's 81st-minute equaliser was to see Trent Alexander-Arnold play a devastating through ball from his own half to Darwin Nunez, who ran in behind the Arsenal backline and set up Salah. Of course, none of that trio were there on Thursday.
Salah is at the Africa Cup of Nations, while Nunez and Alexander-Arnold left in the summer.
Without Salah, Alexander Isak or Ekitike, this was always going to be a battle against statistically the best defence in the league.
Liverpool were brilliant with their shape, but for all their dominance in the second half it was the fact David Raya was untested all night that summed up their recent struggles in the final third.
This was meant to be the season when Liverpool should have competed on all fronts after spending over £400m in the summer. The title is out of the question and Slot is adamant that finishing in the top four or five is the target, but they still have the potential to make this a good season.
Liverpool are still in the Champions League, while Monday's FA Cup third-round tie against Barnsley awaits.
At the very least, this unbeaten run has stabilised Liverpool and this performance showed they can match the best in the league on their day, but it also delivered a reminder of how far they still have to go.
"We faced an unbelievable team. We showed again why we became champions last season," said Dominik Szoboszlai.
"This was a step forward after recent weeks and, yeah, we showed again against a team that is top of the table that we can compete. We need to take it with us for the next weeks."
