Liverpool’s former midfielder Joe Cole has questioned the decision-making behind our summer recruitment drive, suggesting Arne Slot’s overhaul of a title-winning team has gone “too far, too fast”.
The comments came on TNT Sports after the Reds’ 3-2 defeat at Brentford, our fourth straight Premier League loss – marking the club’s worst league run since 2021.
Cole, who had a brief Anfield spell, didn’t hold back on his analysis of where things have gone wrong.
“I feel like changing so many players from a title-winning side is madness for me,” he said. “I can’t remember a team winning the title and changing four players that you expect to be your starters.”
Liverpool’s summer signings under scrutiny after poor run
The pundit went on to highlight the balance in midfield as a particular problem area.
“The midfield’s all over the place for me,” he explained. “Even when they were winning games early on, it didn’t look right. Teams were breaking through them too easily.
“Wirtz just hasn’t worked so far. He looks quite lightweight in that position.”
The £116 million signing of Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen was meant to give Liverpool a new creative spark, but Cole’s comments echo growing concerns about the German playmaker’s adjustment to life in the Premier League.
Slot himself admitted that teams have found a way to punish the Reds, now it’s over to him and his staff to stop this run from continuing any further.
Too much change, too quickly?
Cole added that Liverpool’s identity, built on cohesion and familiarity, has been tested by this summer’s wave of incomings and outgoings.
“It’s unlike Liverpool,” he said. “They don’t usually make that many changes, particularly from a winning side.”
The Reds’ midfield, featuring Dominik Szoboszlai, Wirtz and Curtis Jones, struggled to rediscover the control that defined last season’s title run.
It’s not all doom and gloom, though, Salah’s late strike at Brentford provided a small positive in an otherwise frustrating night.
But as Cole made clear, the focus must now shift from transition to stability, before the gap at the top widens further.
You can watch Cole’s comments on Liverpool via @footballontnt on X:
"Changing so many players from a title winning side is madness" 😳
Has Liverpool's spending spree in the summer impacted their Premier League title defence? 🤔
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— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) October 25, 2025
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Well I concur with Cole, LFC in the middle look lightweight. just look at the photo in this report, it’s Wirtz being monstered – teams have woken up to Wirtz lack of strength on the ball (in short he gets pushed aroud far too easily), you talk about Kerkez having stage fright on the ball – Wirtz is just as bad. But this performance was the equivalent of a team at he bottom of the table trying to stay up, they were a yard off the pace in every facet all night (except for the robot like performance of Dominik Szoboszlai – who was inspirational in a losing side). Are they training to have stamina/because I see none. VVD is just as bad as Konate/the middle of our defence is too slow to te danger and lacking energy, the middle of the park is too slow and also lacking energy. Then that does not do much for the forwards. It is up to Slot to get this show back on the road/but for me the horse has bolted and we will be lucky to finish in the top four/we had to show up against Man Utd and we did not – the game against Leverkuesen was against an inferior side and even in some phases of that game we lost control. Kerkez is an enigma – he was rock solid for Bournemouth but for us looks a shade of that player/he has shown no strength/confidence at all/is frightened to take on an attacker 1 x 1 – and with the ball looks as if he does not know what to do! The one bright spot – we are at rock bottom as a team/and fro there can only get better/the question is how much better? The rest of the League must be looking on and relishing playing against us, just hoist the ball in the air all game.win first and second balls leading to set plays and you will score easily against LFC – it is that simple. YNWA.
I said on here before wirtz and kirkez were bought that it would make Liverpool more lightweight. Especially from set piece’s. There are a few reasons why we’ve declined. The first is the midfield, which struggled in the last season under klopp. Remember how teams were picking us off on the counter. It was there last season but got overlooked because of the form of salah, we won the league only because of his goals and assists. We were a one man team. It was the worst Liverpool league title winning team. Outclassed by psg in the champions league, lost to Plymouth in the fa Cup, and we’re outmuscled by Newcastle in the league cup final. Priority signing should have been central defender and defensive midfielder. We are shipping goals for fun needing three goals to win games. Change the system and mentality, defend first, be hard to beat. You can’t do that with no midfielder to protect the defence.
I disagree with Cole. Liverpool was due an overhaul even in the time of Klopp!! That’s why I among many vocally pushed for FSG to buy Mbappe, Bellingham, Camavinga etc when we could…it is all about making a strong bid. If we’d done that then, we’d be more stable now. Back to now.
FSG did right by buying the players they did for LFC this season. To me they fell short, more so in not buying Guehi and somebody like Diomande or Branthwaite. This is LFC’s weakness right now, the backline. Vvd is slowing down, Konate is a spent force, Kerkez is not fully cooked and Bradley is not up to speed with LFC’s RB needs!
The midfield is overworked, with some players being played out of position. With players like Gravenberch, MacAllister, Jones, Sczoboslai, Wirtz, Endo, Nyoni, Bajcetic, Frimpong and Chiesa (bring Harvey Elliot back from Aston Villa more so as he is not being played there), LFC has a solid pack with 2-3 players (Baleba and Wharton) needed to solidify it for the next season!! The strike force is awesome, with one replacement necessary for the aging Salah. Liverpool has the players, it is the coaching that is not making them play as a cohesive unit, the one critical function of a manager. FSG is doing its part now, it is Slot who must do his asap coz he is the weak link!!