Last season, Liverpool were almost unbeatable in the Premier League. Then came pre-season, players like Diaz and Alexander-Arnold disappeared, while reinforcements worth around £450 million were brought to Anfield. It also started well, then cracks appeared in the concrete. There was one area in particular where Liverpool had become shockingly weak.
At the end of 2025, Liverpool had one of the worst set-piece statistics in Europe. something that annoyed manager Arne Slot. The scapegoat was singled out and fired, Saturday showed the Reds they are back to what Slot calls normal.
With a 3-0 first-half lead in the 5-2 win over West Ham, Liverpool had scored seven Premier League goals in a row from set-pieces. That is the longest streak in Premier League history.
“First and foremost, things are back to normal. As I said, we created a lot of chances in the first half of the season, which either didn’t go in, or that we missed due to bad luck. We were often very close. Even today we conceded a goal on set pieces, and they could easily have scored another one in the first half,” Slot begins to the club’s website.
“Maybe one or two small details have changed, both defensively and offensively, and I think we are organized a little differently. But the main reason is that things have returned to normal. At one point, we were 23 goals behind Arsenal on set pieces – including penalties. Now we are a little behind them, but the gap has narrowed. Set pieces can make a huge difference, says the Liverpool manager.
What has changed behind the scenes is that set-piece coach Aaron Briggs was fired on December 30, after only 18 months in the job.
