Effort Has to Be Liverpool's Bare Minimum

A frustrated reaction to Liverpool’s limp display against Manchester City, criticising the starting XI, midfield balance and intensity, and arguing that effort and physical competitiveness must never be optional at the club.

Talk about rolling over and getting your belly tickled. That Liverpool performance was borderline comparable to United against Spurs yesterday.

I think Andoni's starting XI selection was incredibly naive. He went with a featherweight midfield featuring Wirtz, an inexperienced striker leading the line and Barcola turning back or going sideways at every opportunity. With that performance, he looks far more suited to playing against the farmers of Ligue 1 than dealing with the demands of the Premier League.

I still can't get my head around the team selection and the starting XI. It's Man City! The fans were up for it, we wanted a battle and we wanted to see our players stand up and represent Liverpool properly. Instead, we got Wirtz pulling out of 50/50s and constantly not tracking runners, Barcola strolling through the game like he was at the park, Kerkez doing his best impression of cross in hope, Munoz running with his head down like he's checking to see if he stepped in chewing gum and the entire team sitting off City as though we were scared of them; 10 minutes of pressing in each half doesn't change that.

Wirtz should be dropped now; we have stuck by him but it's getting ridiculous. Bring Endo back in and play a proper three-man midfield that can compete physically and get stuck into the opposition. Endo, Macca and Szoboszlai if he's back fit. Honestly, I'm sick of this obsession with technical ability at the expense of everything else. You can have all the technical quality in the world, but if you're not prepared to compete, run, tackle and fight for the shirt, what's the point? Semenyo and Ndiaye competed and fought the whole game and they are two of the best technical players in the division.

Liverpool is a working people's club, and 100% effort should be the bare minimum. Nobody expects every player to have a world-class level performance every week, but we should never have to question whether they're prepared to give everything. Look at Koumas. He's inexperienced, he's been pushed around and bullied by the opposition, but the lad has still put in the effort and tried to compete. That's the absolute minimum we should expect from anyone wearing that shirt, regardless of their ability or experience.

I now understand what that Liverpool legend meant when he spoke to me about us fans having no idea about the culture of the club and how much things have changed when he visited my workplace a few months ago. Performances like this make you wonder whether some of these players genuinely understand what Liverpool is supposed to represent.

And then there's the bench. If you want to see just how far behind Chelsea, City and Arsenal we've fallen, look at the players they were able to bring on. The difference in depth and quality is frightening.

I appreciate that getting Liverpool back to where we want to be could take a few seasons, and I'm not expecting miracles overnight. But the recruitment over the last 18 months genuinely boggles the mind, apart from maybe Ekitike and Jacquet so far. The drop-off in what we're getting from these players is staggering. It's genuinely hard to believe.

Ultimately, losing to City isn't the problem. They're a quality side and nobody expects us to win every game. It's the manner of the performance that gets me. You can lose a game while showing character, intensity and a willingness to fight for every ball. What we got instead was a team that looked completely devoid of fight.

At Liverpool, effort isn't something we applaud you for as an added bonus. It's the bare minimum. A lot of players at the club need to realise that.

Written by MCR October 11 2026 20:46:44