Liverpool title defence comparison supporters need to remember
Liverpool’s recent form has prompted familiar questions about standards, decline, and whether this season represents an unprecedented collapse for a reigning champion.
Sunday’s late defeat to Manchester City at Anfield only intensified that feeling, with Erling Haaland’s 92nd-minute penalty ending a 109-game unbeaten league run when scoring first at home and pushing us further off the Champions League places.
But history suggests that this situation, while uncomfortable, is not unique.
Liverpool ECHO journalist Ian Doyle highlighted a striking comparison on X that reframes the narrative around Liverpool’s current league form.
“#LFC on run of six wins in 20 league games as defending champions isn’t great. But it’s not their worst,” Doyle wrote.
“In 1980/81 they won six out of 21 midway through the season. With Bob Paisley in charge. While trying to rebuild a team. They finished fifth that season and won European Cup.”
That season, now remembered as one of the most successful in Liverpool’s European history, was built on a league campaign that looked deeply underwhelming in isolation.
Liverpool title defences have rarely been smooth
#LFC on run of six wins in 20 league games as defending champions isn't great. But it's not their worst. In 1980/81 they won six out of 21 midway through the season. With Bob Paisley in charge. While trying to rebuild a team. They finished fifth that season and won European Cup
— Ian Doyle (@IanDoyleSport) February 9, 2026
The idea that a dominant league season guarantees momentum the following year has rarely applied to Liverpool.
Looking at the seasons following league titles underlines how often the immediate campaign after success becomes complicated rather than comfortable.
After winning the league in 2020, Liverpool finished third the following season, exited the FA Cup in round four, and reached the Champions League quarter-finals.
The 1990 title was followed by a second-place finish and an early FA Cup exit, while European football was not even an option due to the ban.
In 1988-89, Liverpool again finished second, won the FA Cup, and had no European campaign to fall back on.
The pattern repeats throughout the club’s history.
Even the 1980-81 campaign, now viewed through the glow of European Cup success, saw Liverpool finish fifth in the league while winning just six of their first 21 matches.
That context matters when assessing a season that is still alive on multiple fronts.
Why Liverpool’s current situation does not demand panic
Liverpool sit sixth in the table, five points off fourth, with cup competitions still offering genuine opportunities.
The Manchester City defeat felt catastrophic largely because of how it happened rather than what it represents structurally.
Jamie Carragher focused on individual errors, particularly Alisson’s late penalty concession, as emblematic of moments undermining Liverpool’s season rather than systemic collapse.
Gary Neville offered a more measured assessment, describing the result as “a tough take” but stressing that Liverpool dominated the second half and should not allow the chaos of the ending to define the campaign.
That balance between frustration and perspective is critical.
Liverpool have endured poor title defences before and have finished outside the top four after winning the league.
We have rebuilt, recalibrated, and still emerged with major trophies.
History does not guarantee success but it does show that bad runs, even bad seasons, are not automatic evidence that everything is broken.
And Liverpool’s past proves that writing off a campaign too early often says more about emotion than reality.
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