Andy Robertson says Liverpool performances must improve in second half of season

By Carl Markham, Press Association

Liverpool may have extended their unbeaten run to 11 matches with an FA Cup win over Barnsley, but that has not fooled defender Andy Robertson, who admitted performances have to improve in the second half of the season.

Comfortable at 2-0 until Dominik Szoboszlai’s display of arrogance in his own six-yard box gifted the visitors a goal, it took two late strikes from Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike – who cost a combined £195 million in the summer – to make the game safe.

Letting opponents back into games has been a common theme this season for the defending Premier League champions, and Robertson said that is something which has to be stopped.

“I don’t think the performance was overly great. We showed moments of really good individual quality, but we’ve got to play a lot better than that if we want to go further in this competition,” he said.

“Going 11 unbeaten is good (but) some of the performances still have to be better.

“We’ve got the draws against Leeds, Sunderland – games you’re expected to win – but there was the draw at Arsenal, a win at San Siro (against Inter Milan).

“We’ve stopped the bad form but we need to still lift the levels of performance. Everyone knows that and that’s what we’re working towards.”

After nine defeats in 12 matches during October and November, the priority was to stop the rot and make the team more difficult to beat.

But the criticism now is that Arne Slot’s side are dominating games but not taking their chances.

“We’ve looked a bit more secure defensively which is pleasing but now we need to put it all together because people are saying we’re lacking an attacking threat,” added Robertson.

“We need to now get both because at the start of the season we were really good going forward but probably a little bit too open at the back. Now we’ve kind of reversed it.

“If you want to win trophies and go further in tournaments, you have to get the perfect balance and that’s what we’re working towards.”

Robertson admitted Szoboszlai had received some choice words from his team-mates at half-time after his crazy backheel allowed Adam Phillips to score but he said the Hungary captain had banked plenty of credit as their best player this season.

Some hit from Szobo 😮‍💨🚀 pic.twitter.com/YifQm0nswn

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) January 13, 2026

“The frustrating thing is Dom does this unbelievable 60-yard sprint to start with, he’s getting the clap off The Kop and I don’t know if that maybe went to his head,” he said.

“We can joke about it now but it’s unacceptable to lose a goal like that. Dom obviously knows that. He’s been magnificent for us this season and he was again really good.

“He just had a lapse of concentration, and we can’t afford too many of them in the six-yard box.”