How the national media reacted to Liverpool’s 4-1 home win over Barnsley in the FA Cup on Monday evening
Hugo Ekitike of Liverpool celebrates scoring a goal with team-mate Florian Wirtz during the Emirates FA Cup third round match at home to Barnsley on January 12 2026(Image: Jan Kruger/Getty Images)
So the run continues. Liverpool moved on to 11 games unbeaten with a 4-1 FA Cup third-round victory at home to League One side Barnsley on Monday evening.
Dominik Szoboszlai and Jeremie Frimpong put the Reds in control before a terrible Szoboszlai error gifted Adam Phillips a goal for the visitors. Substitutes Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike made the game safe with goals late on.
It made for an eventually comfortable evening. And while the ECHO was in attendance and provided our usual level of coverage, here’s how the national media viewed a positive result for Arne Slot’s side.
READ MORE: Barnsley boss hits out at ‘disrespectful’ Dominik Szoboszlai after Liverpool error
Ian Ladyman of the Daily Mail believes Liverpool were lucky and could well be about to fall apart this season.
“From the depths of their early winter despair, Liverpool have somehow pieced together an unbeaten run of 11 games,” he says. “But the truth is they continue to look a most unconvincing football team and if greater difficulties are not around the corner, it will be a surprise.
“For now at least, they will continue in a competition that will only offer their season a lifeline if they manage to play rather better than they did here.
“This was not a particularly recognisable Liverpool team as manager Arne Slot made a raft of changes. But nor was it callow and severely under resourced. Liverpool needed two late goals to put a shine on this evening and as such were very familiar indeed.
“That they won was down to two long range goals of ferocious power in the first half – one from Dominik Szoboszlai and the other from Jeremie Frimpong – and also to some isolated pieces of fortune that preceded their late rally.”
Andy Hunter, formerly of this parish, was similarly dismissive of Liverpool’s performance while writing in The Guardian.
“The scoreline was far more convincing than Liverpool’s performance against League One opposition,” he opines. “Barnsley made Arne Slot’s side battle for the right to host Brighton in round four while their head coach, Conor Hourihane, accused Dominik Szoboszlai of disrespect for gifting his team a goal while showboating. Slot appeared inclined to agree.
“Liverpool were grateful for a late Florian Wirtz-inspired flourish for an ultimately comfortable margin of victory and banishing any anxieties.
“But this had been another slog against a low defensive block until the expensive substitute swept home a fine third goal and created a stoppage‑time fourth for Hugo Ekitike. There was no more relieved man inside Anfield than Szoboszlai.”
Ex-Echo scribe Paul Joyce, now of The Times, believes Liverpool are becoming adept at self-sabotage.
“Whatever the competition, regardless of the opponent, Liverpool’s insistence on making life more complicated than it needs to be knows no bounds,” he pens.
“Up until Monday night, Dominik Szoboszlai had been immune to a tendency to veer between the extremes which has afflicted so many of his team-mates. The malaise is evidently catching.
“Before a ball had even been kicked, Arne Slot hoped he had delivered the biggest statement of the night by scribbling down a strong starting line-up. The team sheet betrayed not only how Liverpool’s ambitions have altered in recent months but also shifted from last year when a weakened side had lost at Plymouth Argyle in the fourth round.”
The omnipresent Richard Jolly of The Independent pointed to the departure of Xabi Alonso from Real Madrid as reason for Slot to enjoy victory.
“It still necessitated a display of bench strength from Slot to take Liverpool through,” he types. “Perhaps scarred by last season’s exit to Plymouth, when many of his replacements were rookies, he summoned Florian Wirtz and Ekitike, saw both score and assist and ended with a 4-1 scoreline that flattered his side.
“But on the day a former Liverpool favourite, Xabi Alonso, became an unemployed manager, victory may have been timely for Slot. His side are now unbeaten in 11 games and if the figure is more emphatic than many of the performances, Liverpool have booked a date with Brighton.”
Finally, the tall man Paul Gorst writes in the ECHO about how the FA Cup should now become a big deal for Liverpool.
“With a challenge for the Premier League title now little more than a pipedream and the Carabao Cup assignments done for, a Liverpool team who find themselves leading the top-four race don’t really have any excuses not to go all in for a ninth set of winners’ medals in the world’s oldest cup competition,” he says.
“Last year’s exit at the hands of Plymouth Argyle was shrugged off almost immediately due to the impending Premier League title and the small matter of a League Cup final to come. And defeats to Manchester United and Brighton, in 2024 and 2023 respectively, were also only briefly mourned by Jurgen Klopp.
“But with Champions League qualification potentially afforded to as many as five top-flight sides in England this year, it would be foolish to discard this most proud of tournaments without a fight, even if it has admittedly lost much of its lustre this century.”
