The lasting memory of Liverpool’s 2024/25 season will of course be Virgil van Dijk lifting the Premier League title. With that in mind, here are seven things you may have already forgotten from the campaign.
Arne Slot‘s first season as Liverpool head coach was an unmitigated success, culminating in an emphatic league win which looks like it will be followed up by a strong transfer window.
Having competed in 56 matches over the course of the campaign, there was an awful lot of football played with a relatively small squad.
It all made for a fantastic journey supporting the Reds, but it wasn’t all plain sailing along the way.
Here are seven things you may have already forgotten about Slot’s first year at Liverpool.
Slot didn’t have the full squad back together until just over a week before their Premier League opener – and Nat Phillips started the last pre-season match!
Cast your minds back to last summer and the future was still uncertain; Slot hadn’t spent much time talking to the press and Liverpool hadn’t signed any footballers.
Andy Robertson and Alisson were last to return to pre-season training, arriving back with the squad just a couple of days before the double header at Anfield against Sevilla and Las Palmas.
On that day, Jarell Quansah and Virgil van Dijk played together early in the afternoon, before Ibrahima Konate and Phillips started the match against Las Palmas.
Six days later, the Reds went to Ipswich and won 2-0 in Slot’s first competitive match.
Liverpool won 23 of their first 27 games in all competitions and they remained top of the league from November 2.
Despite having such little time to work with his first-team players, Slot got off to an incredible start as boss in both the Premier League and Champions League.
The Reds won all six of their European games before Christmas and 12 of their first 16 league matches.
Joe Gomez missed the first game of the season ahead of a potential transfer.
Not only had Slot only worked with some of his key players for little more than a week before facing Ipswich, he also had to contend with Liverpool’s longest-serving player potentially leaving.
Gomez was left out of the opening-day squad as he ‘explored his options’ before the transfer window closed.
The Merseyside derby was postponed and other games came under threat from the weather.
Postponements at Premier League level are very rare. On this occasion, though, Everton vs. Liverpool fell victim to Storm Darragh’s wind as authorities decided it was too dangerous for the public to travel on the morning of December 7.
In some ways, this worked well for Liverpool who were facing a tricky period at the time. However, Everton may also look back with a smile at the suspension given it meant the match was moved to a night time in February.
As a result, the atmosphere was more intense than it would have been for a damp lunchtime kick-off at Goodison Park. Fate transpired to make that match memorable and we all know what James Tarkowski did at the death.
Amara Nallo got sent off four minutes into his debut.
At the other end of his Liverpool career, young Amara Nallo made his debut in a dead rubber Champions League clash against PSV.
Unfortunately for the 18-year-old, he received a red card just four minutes into his substitute appearance, after bringing down Johan Bakayoko and denying him a clear goalscoring opportunity in the eyes of the referee.
Nallo clearly took a confidence hit from the incident and even looked shaky in academy games in the weeks after.
Isaac Mabaya made his debut for Liverpool.
While he wasn’t sent off on his debut, like Nallo, Isaac Mabaya’s debut wasn’t exactly a roaring success either.
The 20-year-old was called into action when Gomez went off injured after 11 minutes against Plymouth.
In generally a very poor performance, Liverpool went on to lose the FA Cup fourth-round tie 1-0 – a definite learning curve for the youngster.
Vitezslav Jaros played in the Premier League.
Another man to make his debut this season was Vitezslav Jaros, and he even played a small part in the Reds’ title triumph.
At most clubs, having to use your third-choice goalkeeper in the Premier League would set alarm bells ringing. Liverpool remained calm, though, as they knew the talent Jaros possessed.
With no Caoimhin Kelleher waiting in the wings due to illness, Jaros came on when Alisson injured his hamstring just over 10 minutes from time.
Liverpool were 1-0 up at the time at Selhurst Park and facing a nervous finish, but Jaros played like an experienced professional and was given the gloves again for the League Cup win at Brighton.
