Liverpool’s draw with Newcastle at St James’ Park was another reminder that their title-winning balance still has a weak spot. The 2024-25 champions under Arne Slot have enough quality to control games and score goals, but the Sunday match showed that the issue they carried into the new season has not disappeared: they still lack the dedicated holding midfielder that has been missing since Fabinho left in 2023.
That was the most striking takeaway from a match that lasted 96 minutes and once again exposed Liverpool’s vulnerability when opponents break quickly. Last season, Slot complained about teams scoring first and about his side’s difficulty dealing with direct attacks. Those concerns carried into this latest game, where Newcastle found space in transition and made Liverpool work without ever letting them feel fully secure.
What the Newcastle match revealed
The bigger picture is simple. Liverpool have been expected to overhaul parts of the squad, and the need for a specialist defensive midfielder has been obvious for some time. Ryan Gravenberch can play an important role in the middle of the pitch, but the structure still looks incomplete without a true holding player beside him. The spending spree of last summer was surprising in part because of who did not arrive, and the Newcastle draw brought that omission back into focus.
This was not a night where Liverpool collapsed, and that is part of the point. The problem is more subtle than that. The team can still look excellent in stretches, but the moments when the game opens up are the moments that keep exposing the same flaw. Against a side like Newcastle, that becomes harder to ignore.
What Arne Slot has been dealing with
Slot has already shown he can get results without a perfect squad shape, and winning the league in 2024-25 proved that. But the challenge now is different. Liverpool are being judged not just on whether they can win, but on whether they can repeat that level while controlling the dangerous moments that arrive against direct, aggressive opponents.
That is why this match matters beyond the points dropped on Sunday. If Liverpool are to stay in the title conversation, they may still need the kind of Fabinho replacement that gives the back line more protection and the midfield more balance. Without it, even strong performances can remain vulnerable to the same kind of transition attack Newcastle used here.
For Steven Gerrard, who spent his own career carrying teams through difficult tactical gaps, the lesson would be familiar: talent can take a side a long way, but structure usually decides how far it can go.
What comes next
Liverpool do not need to reinvent themselves, but they do need to solve a problem that has now survived beyond one manager and one transfer window. The Newcastle draw did not create that issue. It simply made it impossible to ignore.
