Liverpool in Freefall as Slot Faces Biggest Crisis Yet After PSV Hammering
Liverpool’s season has gone from title talk to total meltdown in the space of a month, and Wednesday night’s 4–1 thumping by PSV at Anfield may be the moment the whole thing tipped over the edge. Seven straight wins to start the campaign now feels like a lifetime ago. The Reds has lost nine of their last 12 — their worst run in 71 years — and confidence around Merseyside is hanging by a thread.
Curtis Jones summed up the mood in brutal fashion afterwards. “I don’t have the answers. I’m past being angry. I just don’t have the words,” he told RTE, staring into the middle distance like he’d seen a ghost. Hard to blame him. Liverpool have shipped seven goals in five days at a ground that was supposed to be a fortress, and they’ve just racked up three straight defeats by three goals for the first time since 1953.
Arne Slot, the man who delivered a record-equalling 20th league title only months ago, suddenly looks like he’s pacing the tightrope. The Dutchman’s under fierce pressure, with fans and pundits alike wondering how a side that looked so sharp in August now looks utterly lost. “Things are not clicking,” former full-back Stephen Warnock told BBC Sport. “There’s an apparent lack of fight, which is very hard to see.”
The slump has been long in the making. Six defeats in seven lit the first warning flares before brief wins over Villa and Real Madrid gave supporters hope that the corner had been turned. Instead, it’s spiralled again — a 3–0 thrashing at Man City, a worse 3–0 at home to Forest, and now this humiliation against PSV, only Liverpool’s second Anfield loss in the Youth League era’s pre-knockout games.
Slot admitted the mess is “a shock for everyone”. And it shows. His summer signings haven’t landed: record buy Alexander Isak has only managed one goal, Florian Wirtz is crocked, and Milos Kerkez keeps getting spun like a traffic cone. Yet Slot made just two subs on Wednesday, swapping Isak for the limping Hugo Ekitike and hauling off Ibrahima Konaté for Federico Chiesa during another grim night for the defender. The crowd didn’t bother hiding their groans.
The one bright spot has been Dominik Szoboszlai. Back in midfield against PSV, the Hungarian ran the show at times, bagged a goal and proved he’s wasted anywhere near right-back. But even Steven Gerrard, normally measured, couldn’t sugar-coat it. “They’re struggling massively,” he said on TNT Sports. “Unless the manager finds answers and stability, this will continue.”
Slot’s record against PSV hardly helped the mood either — one win in his last eight meetings with them, and more defeats against the Dutch giants than any other team in his managerial career. Still, he insists he’s not panicking. “I need to do better,” he said. “That’s where my focus is.”
Liverpool don’t have long to stew. West Ham away comes on Sunday, followed by a brutal Champions League double-header against Inter Milan and Marseille. They’ve slipped to 13th in the league phase, a point off the top eight, and the pressure’s cranking up with every passing hour.
Warnock says it’s back-to-basics time. “Every player is having a tough time. Morale needs lifting, but it’s very difficult to lift it.” The club is still grappling with the emotional weight of Diogo Jota’s death in July, and Warnock believes the “bigger picture” can’t be ignored. Even so, results rule everything — and Liverpool’s right now has been dreadful.
A solution has to come fast, or this will turn into a season supporters will want to scrub from memory. Slot insists he feels safe. The rest of Anfield isn’t quite so sure.