A look at how the national media reacted as Liverpool slumped to a 4-1 defeat at home to PSV in the Champions League
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot during the Champions League game with PSV.
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot during the Champions League game with PSV.
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So just where does Arne Slot go from here now at Liverpool? A ninth - yes, ninth - defeat in a dozen games saw the Reds beaten 4-1 at home to PSV in the Champions League on Wednesday night and big, uncomfortable questions are now being asked.
The ECHO - like it is through the good, the bad and the ugly times at Anfield - was on hand to provide its usual match-day mix of content from another wretched night for the Reds. Player ratings, analysis, verdict and the reaction from Arne Slot can all be found in the links here. And if you want to see how it played out in real time, then our live blog is also here.
Our colleagues from the national media were on hand to give their own considered takes. Here's how they viewed things as it went from bad to worse for Liverpool this season.
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Dominic King, of the Daily Mail, writes: "Well, then: what have you got? It was the only question that needed to be answered by the team that once looked capable of conquering Europe but now cracks as easily as a soft, autumn conker.
"Turns out Liverpool had nothing. Zero. All they could offer was 90 minutes of nothingness as an attacking force and 90 minutes of calamity in defence, the kind of toxic combination that pushes men in Arne Slot’s position towards the point of no return."‘This is a shock for everyone,’ he said, solemnly, after PSV Eindhoven inflicted the joint-heaviest defeat Liverpool have suffered in 50 years of European combat; it was 4-1 at the end and there was nothing flattering about the margin of victory."But is it a shock? It shouldn’t be. Results of this nature seem to be happening every week and this was the third consecutive game they have lost by three or more goals, equalling a feat they last suffered in December 1953."They were relegated in that campaign and while it’s dramatic to say they will be fighting to keep their heads above water next May, it is hard to shake the feeling Slot is up against it. He looked paralysed as PSV scored their fourth goal went in, a man stood on train tracks with lights hurtling towards him."
Writing in The Times, Paul Joyce pens: "There have been some wild theories floating around in recent weeks that Liverpool, despite all of their travails, remained a team ready to thrive in the Champions League.
"Such thinking was exposed to be as flimsy as Arne Slot’s backline. Crisis has now infected every aspect of their season."Their latest humiliating capitulation saw them succumb to PSV Eindhoven and proved as shambolic as it was squalid with Anfield emptying at a rapid rate between the third and fourth goals."Liverpool ended the night in 13th place in the standings - they are 12th in the Premier League - and with testing away games at Inter and Marseille to follow their progress deeper into the competition can no longer be taken for granted. Nor Slot’s capacity to come out the other side of such an alarming, abject slump."Boos greeted the final whistle before songs of defiance briefly erupted, but Slot presently appears a coach out of his depth with no answers for mounting problems. That in itself is remarkable as it is seven months on Thursday since Liverpool won the Premier League title with a 5-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur. The tailspin of late is as extraordinary as it is excruciating and, worryingly, shows no signs of stopping."
The Independent's Rich Jolly reflects: "Arne Slot’s excellence against Dutch clubs propelled him to Liverpool. Now it is a sign of how everything seems to be going wrong for Slot that even that prowess appears to have deserted him, that a humiliation at the hands of a club from his homeland prompted him to admit it is normal to wonder if he can remain at Anfield.
"As Peter Bosz was the Dutch master in the dugout, adding the scalp of the champions of England to their Italian counterparts, scarcely believably, Liverpool suffered a ninth defeat in 12 games, and they did not just lose. They were hammered in historic fashion by PSV Eindhoven."Twelfth in the Premier League, 13th in the Champions League, hit for four by PSV, this is crisis time for Slot and Liverpool. 'It is a shock for everyone, for the players, for me, this is very unexpected,' he said."The Anfield public delivered a less flattering verdict with boos on the final whistle; they might have been louder, but many had already left. They had seen enough; plenty had come to that decision even before Couhaib Driouech’s second goal."It meant that, for the first time since 1953, Liverpool have lost three consecutive games by three goals. And that, by way of context, came in the last season when they were relegated. This was also Liverpool’s joint-heaviest European defeat at Anfield, but the other came to Real Madrid. PSV came to Anfield as underdogs and yet emulated them."
On The Telegraph's pages, Mike McGrath writes: "It will go down as one of the most bizarre penalties conceded in the Champions League this season. Virgil van Dijk, the Liverpool captain standing at 6ft 5in, had his hand in the air and swatted the ball like a slam dunk.
"Van Dijk had felt an arm around him from his Netherlands centre-back partner Jerdy Schouten, but it is unthinkable for any player to stop play expecting a foul to be given, no matter how blatant."That cheap penalty set PSV on their way to a famous victory, with travelling support from Eindhoven singing Always Look on The Bright Side of Life towards Liverpool as they started their celebrations. It also set the tone for Van Dijk and his miserable evening. He has not had many bad evenings during his eight years on Merseyside but this was a shocker."He was booked early on for his foul on Ismael Saibari and his challenge on Dennis Man later was a reminder that he was flirting with a red card. To show this simply was not his night, when he got his head on the end of a free-kick, his finish struck the crossbar."But the cold truth is that Liverpool cannot get out of their current rut without Van Dijk. While this was a game he would like to forget, he was also one of the only players to try to lift spirits when the game was slipping away from Liverpool’s grasp."
And in the ECHO's verdict: "Having scaled the mountain to become champions of England for a 20th time just six months ago, Liverpool have found it to be made of glass. In exactly half a year, Arne Slot has gone from being on top of the world to seeing it cave in and major questions are now being asked.
"The Champions League was supposed to be the sympathetic ear to the cruel mistress that has been the Premier League season so far. But another shambolic showing at Anfield - one that saw PSV come away with a 4-1 victory - might force some uncomfortable debates inside the corridors of power now. From the dressing room to, maybe, even the boardroom."Liverpool have now lost nine of their last dozen games and if October was the month from hell for Slot and his staff, November has been just a diabolical. Those victories over Aston Villa and Real Madrid were a mirage for a team knee deep in the mire.
"The winter of discontent has taken a firm grip and those early summer scenes already feel like a lifetime ago for a side who have shipped 10 goals in their last three games, two of them at home."