The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Liverpool’s biggest 2025/26 surprises

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Liverpool’s 2025/26 season came to a close on Sunday with a 1-1 draw against Brentford, and judging by the mood around the fanbase, most supporters are relieved to finally see the curtain fall on a deeply frustrating campaign.This season delivered surprises in all the wrong ways — most notably through Liverpool’s shockingly weak title defense — but amid the disappointment, there were still a handful of unexpected positives the club can carry into next year. From breakout talents to worrying regressions from established stars, the campaign produced no shortage of developments that few could have predicted back in August.So, with a painful season now officially in the books, let’s take a look back at the good, the bad, and the downright ugly surprises that defined Liverpool’s 2025/26 campaign.Good surprises: The play of Dominik Szoboszlai and Hugo EkitikeWhile there were clearly plenty of players who fell well short of the level required for Liverpool to repeat as champions, both Szoboszlai and Ekitike emerged as crucial figures who continued to fight for the badge every week and ultimately helped drag the Reds back into the Champions League.I’ve been a fan of Szoboszlai’s game for a long time, but even with the high expectations I had for him entering this season, I still never imagined he would become Liverpool’s player of the season by such a wide margin.He truly did everything for the Reds this year: scoring stunning free kicks, filling in at right-back when needed, and even shifting out to the wing, finding the net at Old Trafford when playing there.

8 wear the armband one day.Alongside Szoboszlai’s breakout campaign came another massive surprise: who realistically expected Hugo Ekitike to finish with 23 goal contributions in a debut season that could have been more if not cut short by a devastating injury?Liverpool FC v Paris Saint-Germain - UEFA Champions League 2025/26 Quarter-Final Second Leg | Jean Catuffe/GettyImagesWith most of the attention centered around how Alexander Isak would fare after arriving for a British-record fee — and despite his own weak output, I’m still not ready to label him a bad surprise due to a lack of preseason and gruesome injury of his own — Ekitike quickly proved he was far more than simply “the backup option in case Isak didn’t arrive.”Instead, he played like a striker determined to become Liverpool’s long-term No. Given how quickly he became an Anfield favorite, it’s hard to imagine the club’s future without him playing a major role.The bad surprises: Florian Wirtz's debut season and futility against Big Six clubsWhile Isak at least had the excuse of lacking full fitness for much of the season, the same cannot be said for Florian Wirtz, who arrived at Anfield fresh off starring campaigns for both Bayer Leverkusen and the German national team.With a massive price tag attached to his name, Wirtz was expected to immediately take control of Liverpool’s midfield and become one of the faces of a new era under Arne Slot.

This year, that aura completely disappeared.If Liverpool are to climb back to the summit in 2026/27, rediscovering the belief that they can go toe-to-toe with England’s biggest clubs will have to be non-negotiable.Manchester City v Liverpool - Emirates FA Cup Quarter Final | James Gill - Danehouse/GettyImagesThe ugly suprises: The dramatic regression of Mo Salah and Arne SlotI got teary-eyed watching Mohamed Salah walk off the pitch for the final time as a Liverpool player on Sunday.Across the eight or so years I’ve followed this club, Salah became my absolute favorite player, and I know countless Liverpool supporters feel exactly the same way.But without dwelling too much on his untouchable legacy at Anfield, if we’re speaking strictly about this season, Salah’s overall performances were simply shocking.What made the decline all the more surprising was that it did not feel like a natural regression. While we may never fully know everything that transpired behind closed doors, it was hardly difficult to identify manager Arne Slot as the apparent target of much of that frustration.After utilizing Salah’s historic 2024/25 season to deliver an unlikely league title in his first year at the helm, Slot’s tactics and typically composed demeanor both collapsed in ways very few could have predicted this season.Liverpool repeatedly struggled to break down low blocks, while Slot increasingly appeared to get his lineups and substitutions wrong.