Liverpool manager Arne Slot must find a way to arrest the team’s slide even as the pressure mounts on him, former skipper Steven Gerrard said after the Merseyside club were thrashed 4-1 by PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League on Wednesday.
The humbling defeat was Liverpool’s ninth in their last 12 games in all competitions, their worst 12-game stretch since the 1953-54 season and the third successive game in which they have lost by three goals.
Slot helped Liverpool win the Premier League in his first season in charge and while they now languish in 12th, and 13th in the Champions League, Gerrard dismissed talk of a crisis.
“Crisis is a strong word, and disrespectful to some of the players who have delivered for this club and for the manager who’s delivered three months ago,” Gerrard, who made 710 appearances for Liverpool, told TNT Sports.
“But you cannot deny the team is struggling massively, they’re on a terrible run, confidence is at an all-time low and they just keep bleeding.
Steven Gerrard on Liverpool 1-4 PSV in UCL.
"Crisis is too strong. Crisis is a club that needs years to get back to the top. That's not good enough! No excuses"
Arne Slot has lost 9 of his last 12 matches - worst run of form since Nov 1953 to Jan 1954.pic.twitter.com/x0u2ajDkAu
— Kyama ⚽ (@ElijahKyama_) November 26, 2025
“Unless the manager can find answers and stability in the team it’s going to continue.”
Gerrard’s former England and Liverpool teammate Steve McManaman believes talk about Slot’s future is premature.
“I think it’s far too early for such questions,” he said. “They would have to go out of the Champions League and be wallowing near the bottom of the league.
“They play Arsenal second week of January, that’s when the question should be asked. They’ll be halfway through the season by then.”
Dejected Slot admitted the mood is bleak at Anfield after the shocking slump continued with Wednesday’s thrashing. The pressure on the manager was cranked up a notch after the humbling defeat.
“The emotions are very negative and disappointing,” he said. “I was also hoping and expecting a better performance, because the performance was far from what we are used to, even if we’re losing, our performances have been better.”
The numbers during the Reds’ shambolic run have been shocking. They have lost their last three games across all competitions by three goals, and their home fortress is crumbling, with the team - and disgruntled fans - tasting defeat at Anfield already more times than they did all of last season.
“Even when we don’t play well, [we are] able to score two goals and create more chances,” Slot said. “But you cannot even compete because we simply concede too many goals.”
The Premier League champions’ troublesome start comes despite the club spending an unprecedented £446m in the summer transfer window, bolstering their squad with the arrivals of British-record signing Alexander Isak, among others.
But Isak, who was a late substitute against PSV, has been all but absent on the pitch in the games he has played since joining from Newcastle United.
Liverpool talisman Mohamed Salah has been a shell of the player who was the Premier League’s top scorer last season.
“It’s hard because I’m playing for the team I support,” Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones told RTE Sports. “I’m a fan, and I’ve seen this club all my life.
“In a long, long time, I haven’t experienced a Liverpool team going through a period like this with results like these.
“But at the end of the day, we still have that badge on our chest. And until that badge is gone, we’re always going to fight.
“We’re going to try and get this team back to where it needs to be, show everyone again what this club is about and why people call it the best team in the world.”
Liverpool visit West Ham United next, in the Premier League on Sunday.
Reuters