Liverpool 1-4 PSV (Szoboszlai (16′ | Perisic 6′ pen, Til 56′, Driouech 73′, 90+1′)
When it comes to comedic timing, clearly Virgil van Dijk has it in spades.
In his programme notes, Liverpool’s captain insisted “it all starts with the basics”. Five minutes into the PSV match, he conceded a penalty for an inexplicable handball.
Van Dijk protested, crying foul, but really he had no leg to stand on for an arm raised that high, and so the tone was set for another shambolic 90 minutes as far as Liverpool are concerned.
This was a third straight loss and ninth in the past 12 games, Liverpool’s worst run for 71 years which has all-but ended their Premier League defence already and left them with work to do in the Champions League.
Europe looked as though it could come to their rescue this season – and it might, yet – but having beaten Real Madrid in their previous Champions League match at Anfield, the PSV loss reared all the ugly habits of their recent form.
It was not merely the first goal conceded that made a mockery of Van Dijk’s pre-match words.
His call to arms also included his desire to see “a willingness to fight for every first ball, every second ball, to compete in every duel, to block shots and win challenges”.
Evidently Mohamed Salah didn’t read the memo, with the winger’s half-hearted attempt to press turning into a full-on surrender as he allowed Mauro Junior to run free into the Liverpool half before an inch-perfect pass allowed Guus Til to restore PSV’s lead.
From bad to even worse, Ibrahima Konate’s mistake then gifted PSV the path to their third, all after Van Dijk had said: “We have to be harder to play against, for sure, because the amount of goals we have conceded so far this season is not good at all.”
And that was before the final blow, a fourth goal – and Couhaib Driouech’s second – in injury time with Liverpool stretched, ragged, and all the other synonyms for absolutely all over the place.
Liverpool’s increasingly shambolic defence
2024-25: 55 goals conceded in 56 games – 0.98 goals per game
2025-26: 34 goals conceded in 20 games – 1.7 goals per game
It was a chastening evening. Perhaps the most damning of Arne Slot’s Liverpool tenure. And to follow a 3-0 home defeat to Nottingham Forest with this performance undoubtedly raises the awkward question: how much longer has Slot got?
The prospect of sacking a title-winning manager appeared foolish when this was a mini-crisis, but this is full-blown now, and there are few signs to suggest Slot is capable of turning this around.
That, though, is supposedly disrespectful in the eyes of former captain Steven Gerrard.
“Crisis is a very strong word and disrespectful to some of the players that have delivered for this football club, and the manager that delivered months ago,” he said on TNT Sports.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 26: A dejected Mohamed Salah of Liverpool during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Phase MD5 match between Liverpool FC and PSV Eindhoven at Anfield on November 26, 2025 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
Heads are down at Liverpool (Photo: Getty)
“If this was six months down the line, a year down the line, then maybe you can use a word like that, but I won’t use that word just yet.
“But you can’t deny this team are struggling. They keep bleeding goals, they’re wide open. Unless the manager can find answers and a stability in the team, it’s going to continue.”
However, Stevie, Slot does not seem to have the answers to their leaking defence, a toiling Van Dijk, a misfiring Salah or indeed a grasp on how to handle the influx of summer signings.
And Gerrard’s point about six months or a year down the line smacks of rose-tinted glasses, too.
This form so soon after a title win only inflates the crisis, and while it is not quite the time for Liverpool’s hierarchy to pull the trigger, certainly some contingency planning would do no harm.
And up next it’s West Ham away on Sunday. Hammers and one final nail?
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