Liverpool boss Arne Slot is coming under increasing pressure over his job - but Man City and Pep Guardiola have shown there is a way out
Arne Slot could learn from Pep Guardiola's recent struggles
Arne Slot could learn from Pep Guardiola's recent struggles(Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
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Sometimes you can take things too far. And having spent much of the past decade trying to keep pace with the Manchester City juggernaut, Liverpool are now echoing the Etihad outfit for all the wrong reasons.
Wednesday night's horrific 4-1 home Champions League defeat to PSV Eindhoven ensured a ninth defeat in 12 games in all competitions for Arne Slot's suffering team, just six months after they lifted the club's record-equalling 20th championship.
For reigning champions to suffer such a dramatic collapse is unusual, but not unheralded. Indeed, it was almost exactly 12 months ago that City, after four titles in a row, experienced an identical run of form as Pep Guardiola realised a little too late that his latest great team had reached the end of the road.
Slot already knew his title-winning squad would have to be reshaped drastically in the summer given the raft of players who either were keen to try pastures new or reluctantly departed having been told their first-team options would once again be likely limited this season.
Nevertheless, eight of the 11 starters against PSV - and one of the two substitutes - claimed a Premier League winners' medal last season. For that reason, Wednesday's second-half performance ranks among the most inept in modern Anfield history given the talent on display.
The reasons for Liverpool's woes are myriad and have been analysed to the nth degree during the ongoing run, from the impact of so much change, untimely injuries, older players clearly having peaked and a failure to prepare for the shift in physical approach across the Premier League.
But planning in football is often based around reasonable assumptions. Nothing is guaranteed, so clubs must factor in a certain level of risk when gauging the expectation of their decisions being justified.
And in what in some cases didn't even at first appear marginal cases, Liverpool - whether it be sporting director Richard Hughes or head coach Arne Slot - have thus far evidently been proven wrong on so many major calls.
With Trent Alexander-Arnold having departed, there was hope Conor Bradley would develop the durability to ensure a lengthy run in the team. The Northern Irishman hasn't, missing part of pre-season with a hamstring problem and now sidelined once more.
The unseemly actions of Alexander Isak to force a move to Liverpool by missing pre-season would be forgotten once the striker was up to speed. Some three months later, Isak, subsequently hampered by a groin problem, is still nowhere near optimum fitness with his impact negligible.
Florian Wirtz would be able to adapt swiftly to the physicality of the Premier League. He hasn't, not helped by the shortcomings of those around him.
Milos Kerkez at least had experience of English football under his belt and wouldn't need to overly adjust. Instead, the weight of playing for such a top club weighed heavily on his shoulders, at least at first.
There was confidence at least one more good season could be extracted form the ageing Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah having handed the duo each a two-year contract. Both, though, have regressed this season, Salah alarmingly so.
Jarell Quansah, and to a lesser extent Harvey Elliott, were allowed to leave on the basis they wouldn't feature much this season. The form of others suggests they'd have had significant minutes already.
And the fears over the failure to sign Marc Guehi would be allayed by contributions from Joe Gomez and teenage signing Giovanni Leoni at centre-back. Gomez, however, has barely played and remains a fitness concern, while Leoni suffered a season-ending injury on his debut in September.
No club would anticipate all of those expectations being met. But that every one has worked against Liverpool is either rank bad luck or evidence of some unwise and ambitious thinking from the club's hierarchy.
In truth, it's probably a mixture of all those factors. And while you can't control fortune, the likes of Hughes and FSG chief executive of football Michael Edwards must carry some of the responsibility along with Slot for arguably too much optimistic guesswork.
It could be argued that by seeking to future-proof the Liverpool squad, they have taken too much for granted with the more established members.
Now is when Slot has to earn his corn and find a way to ensure he steps back from the cliff-edge with growing calls for his removal as head coach. And City demonstrated last season that there is a way back, even if it took a while - and more business in the transfer window - to find a viable solution.
Guardiola's side ended up winning only one of 13 matches during their poor run of last year and then, after a brief steadying of the ship, went on another run of six defeats in 12 before a much stronger end to the season ensured third place and an FA Cup final appearance.
And while this season has been by no means perfect - City have lost their last two matches - there has been an obvious improvement and clear pathway of progress. Guardiola will believe he is in the process of building another title-contending team.
Liverpool thought they were well travelled along that road after their summer business. Now, not for first time, they must look down the M62 for inspiration of what can be achieved. Slot's future depends on it.