Paul Gorst with the latest post-match talking point as the fallout from Liverpool's 2-1 defeat to Manchester City continues
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 08: Arne Slot, Manager of Liverpool, reacts prior to the Premier League match between Liverpool and Manchester City at Anfield on February 08, 2026 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Arne Slot has seen his side repeatedly concede late goals (Image: Carl Recine/Getty Images)
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In a season where it feels that just about anything that can go wrong for Liverpool will and in fact has, it was some feat to break new ground at Anfield on Sunday.
The latest piece of Dominik Szoboszlai genius broke open what had been an absorbing contest up until that point but having taken the lead over Manchester City with a little over 15 minutes remaining, the Reds opted to retreat.
Anfield's blood was up and Pep Guardiola will have been forgiven for thinking it was going to be another afternoon where he failed to crack the code on Merseyside. Instead, the hosts didn't to go for the throat, allowing a title-chasing City the chance to first equalise, in the 83rd minute through Bernardo Silva, and then go on to win it with an Erling Haaland penalty, which was yet another stoppage-time concession for Arne Slot's men.
It's the latest Liverpool had ever led at home and lost in the Premier League, unlocking the latest unwanted statistic in the process and it's becoming a hideous, error-strewn year that is now in real danger of ending without Champions League football for just the second time since 2017. It was also the latest winning goal on record by a visiting team since the 2006/07 season, with Haaland's spot-kick timed, officially, at 92 minutes and 42 seconds.
Victories for Manchester United and Chelsea on Tuesday evening - away at West Ham United and at home to Leeds United, respectively - will leave Liverpool further adrift when they kick off on Wednesday night against a Sunderland side who are unbeaten at the Stadium of Light since their return to the top flight.
In the five games against the three newly-promoted teams, the Reds have won just once, which came via a stoppage-time penalty from Mohamed Salah at Burnley in September, and it is the need to constantly play until the very last blast of every referee's whistle that is undercutting Slot's players.
Six times the Reds have now conceded after 90 minutes and that has been responsible for an eight-point swing. City, who also had a goal in the 104th minute ruled out in a farcical circumstances, can now add their names alongside Crystal Palace, Chelsea, Leeds, Bournemouth and Fulham, whose 95th-minute equaliser at Craven Cottage last month won the Goal of the Month award on BBC's Match of the Day 2 on Sunday evening.
That Harrison Reed's first goal since April 2023 just happened to be one of the best you'll see this entire campaign merely hammers home the idea further that 2025/26 has become a tragicomedy from Liverpool's perspective.
But Slot has unlikely walked under any ladders lately and blaming simple bad luck doesn't stack up. Liverpool have not helped themselves and all too often results have been allowed to hang in the balance for too long, meaning late goals, whatever end they have been scored at, have become too decisive and damaging in the overall picture.
Four losses from goals conceded after 90 minutes is already the joint-most by a team in a single Premier League season. Slot's side have the chance to take that dubious honour outright in their final 13 games, which will eclipse Watford (2017-18), West Ham (2021-22), Watford (2021-22) and Southampton (2024-25).
Not content with simply losing four games late on, however, the Reds have even conspired to draw two as well and they have all combined to be the difference between floundering in sixth and sitting comfortably in third.
Even in the Champions League, where it's become accepted that Liverpool have been a much better proposition, late goals have been needed to secure victories over Atletico Madrid (Virgil van Dijk, 93) and Inter (Szoboszlai, 88).
The issue was something captain Van Dijk refused to label as a pattern when asked after Sunday's game, remarking: “I think you can't compare all of the goals [conceded in stoppage time].
"I think maybe you can compare the Crystal Palace goal and the Bournemouth goal but this one you can't compare with the others. But the fact is that we conceded that late on and I keep saying it but we have to do better in this."
Harry Maguire's winner for Manchester United at Anfield in September was also scored inside the final six minutes while the Reds themselves struck winning goals in the 94th (Bournemouth), 83rd (Arsenal) and, ludicrously, the 100th minute (Newcastle United).
That means Liverpool games, across all competitions, have been significantly altered by goals scored inside the final 10 minutes on as many as 13 occasions this term, painting the picture of a team being made to play until virtually the last kick of most games
It's already the same amount in 37 games across all competitions as they managed across the entirety of last year, when they played 56. That, for a squad who look so stretched and short of options - despite the mammoth £450m summer spending - must be punishing and exhausting.
When Slot and sporting director Richard Hughes sit down at the end of the season, their post-mortem will surely begin here.