Steve Nicol says only two Liverpool players have escaped being ‘bang average’ this season
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After posting one of the most disappointing Premier League title defences in years, Liverpool players have no right to be happy with their season.The Reds may have picked up as they head towards the end of the campaign, winning three consecutive league matches, but they have deserved all of the criticism which has come their way.Plenty of that has been from Liverpool legend Steve Nicol, who has not shied away from letting Arne Slot and his players know what he thinks of them this season. How much better would Liverpool have been if they’d hired an interim manager in January❓🔄 Credit: Sebastian Frej/James Holyoak/MB Media/Getty Images As a four-time league winner during his years with Liverpool, Nicol knows the standard expected at Anfield, and according to him, only Dominik Szoboszlai and Hugo Ekitike have even come close to reaching it in 2025/26.Ekitike and Szoboszlai are the best of a bad bunchHaving carried Liverpool out of some tight spots, Szoboszlai has widely been seen as the Reds’ outstanding performer of the season, even if his level has dipped in recent months.Ekitike was good for large parts of the campaign as well, although the Frenchman did have a tough spell just prior to picking up an Achilles rupture in April.According to Nicol, they are the only two members of this year’s Liverpool squad who deserve any sort of credit at all, with the rest labelled as being ‘bang average.’READ MORE: Liverpool academy gem admits he wants to become Arne Slot’s new Dominik SzoboszlaiPhoto by Michael Regan/Getty Images“Winning the title last season would normally give him enough credit in the bank for the following year, but it’s been torture watching them at times this season.
A lot of the goodwill he built up has been lost,” Nicol told The Athletic when asked if Slot should stay on as Liverpool manager.“You can spin it certain ways. You can point to new players needing time to settle in, you can point to injuries, but it’s not been good enough.
“Only two players have done themselves justice this season – Hugo Ekitike and Dominik Szoboszlai. Everyone else has been bang average.”Much more will be expected from the rest of the Liverpool players – and the new signings who come in – next season.