When Liverpool last faced PSV Eindhoven in January, the loss in the Netherlands was viewed as a minor hiccup for a team that was dominating both domestically and in Europe. However, less than 10 months later, the landscape has drastically changed, and another defeat against the same opponents would significantly increase the pressure on struggling manager Arne Slot. A sixth defeat in seven Premier League matches - and an eighth loss in 11 across all competitions - was a dismal 3-0 home defeat to Nottingham Forest on Saturday evening.
This has intensified scrutiny on Slot, with whispers suggesting a change in management might be necessary. Despite this, the Liverpool board, who saw their bold decision to appoint the Dutchman as Jurgen Klopp's successor rewarded with a Premier League title in his first season, are far from considering such drastic measures. However, after approving nearly £450million in summer spending, Fenway Sports Group would not have anticipated seeing the Reds languishing in the bottom half of the table, behind local rivals Everton, almost a third of the way into the season.
In some ways, that defeat to a weakened team in Holland at the start of the year marked the end of the honeymoon period for Liverpool under Slot. Although it was only the third loss in his 35th game in charge, it was ultimately inconsequential, much like the first leg of the League Cup semi-final against Tottenham Hotspur earlier in the month, given that the Reds still finished top of the revamped opening Champions League phase.
That dubious achievement earned them a round-of-16 tie which ended in a penalty shootout defeat to eventual champions Paris Saint-Germain, coming just five days before their League Cup final loss to Newcastle United. Before that, a heavily rotated squad had suffered an embarrassing FA Cup exit at the hands of Plymouth Argyle, who subsequently dropped into League One.
Prior to the PSV defeat, Liverpool had secured 27 wins from 34 matches under Slot. Since that setback, the record stands at 21 victories from 41 fixtures. However, the manager is focusing on immediate concerns rather than broader trends as he prepares to face former club PSV this evening.
The Dutch side sit comfortably atop the Eredivisie whilst defending their title, yet have managed just one victory from four Champions League outings. When asked whether he might need to dramatically overhaul his tactics and team selection to revive his struggling side, Slot offered a nuanced response.
"No and yes," he said. "No because I don't think you have to do anything completely different, that wouldn't be right to us and the players. But a little bit yes, because if you're a fan of the Premier League, it's going in a different way, you see a different way of playing.
"That maybe means we have to change a few details in how you play. You have to have a certain physicality especially in terms of height. But that's not an excuse that we aren't so tall and we've conceded so many goals from dead-ball moments.
"But we have to help ourselves defensively a bit more – I'm not talking the last line, I am talking about the whole team because then maybe people will also see on the ball we are not doing so many things differently from last season but the amount of goals we are conceding is the big difference between this and last season."
Whilst Liverpool have conceded just four goals across four Champions League matches, they have let in 20 during 12 Premier League fixtures - their poorest defensive record at this point in a campaign since 1992.
Whilst Slot acknowledges set-pieces remain a significant problem, they have proved beneficial in European competition, delivering winning goals at Anfield against Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid, and helping secure a comfortable triumph at Eintracht Frankfurt.
"Last season we conceded zero set-pieces up to now, now we have conceded nine," he said. "The amount of goals we have conceded and the amount of goals coming from set-pieces is, again, close to ridiculous for a club like us.
"Of course there are probably more details that are different but the biggest one is the goals we concede because from open play we are still able to generate enough chances for us to get a result."