Paul Gorst's verdict from Old Trafford as Liverpool lose 3-2 to Manchester United
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - MAY 3: Arne Slot manager / head coach of Liverpool reacts during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Liverpool at Old Trafford on May 3, 2026 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
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A "new cycle", as Arne Slot put it over the weekend, is fast approaching at Liverpool. But this turbulent season is leaving many more fearful than excited for what the future holds at Anfield.
A 3-2 defeat to historic rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford would ordinarily be no cause for a major inquest, but an 11th loss of the campaign followed the familiar pattern for a side whose Champions League hopes still hang in the balance as a result.
Slot will likely bemoan some misfortune after conceding the first shot on target but United's more aggressive start deserved its luck when Matheus Cunha's strike deflected off a struggling Alexis Mac Allister past Freddie Woodman.
The Reds began the game with all the enthusiasm and intensity of a pre-season friendly and were punished further when Benjamin Sesko bundled it in after third-choice goalkeeper Woodman had attempted to parry out Bruno Fernandes's header across goal.
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Once more Slot looked to his unlucky stars that Slovenia striker Sesko wasn't penalised for a handball, saying: "I don't think it's a surprise to anyone this season that if there's a VAR intervention or if there's something that could be left or could be right (50-50) then the decision goes against us."
The officialdom of the Premier League owes Liverpool no living though, and the general paucity of the performance saw a United side that has topped the table since Michael Carrick replaced Ruben Amorim in January take full advantage
The improvement overseen by former Middlesbrough boss Carrick might even give those in charge at Anfield some food for thought on how a change of voice in the technical area can inspire a group of players who are out of sorts.
Having had a full week to work on their shape and sketch out a blueprint for victory, Slot's players instead looked like deer in headlights as United snapped into challenges and won almost every individual battle.
In possession, the Reds lacked a threat and while that was understandable given Alexander Isak, Mohamed Salah and Hugo Ekitike were all out injured, Cody Gakpo, Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong spent the opening period looking overawed by both the scale of the task and the size of the occasion. That, at a club like Liverpool, is a grave offence.
Frimpong improved after the break and Gakpo got his goal but Wirtz's ineffective period continues. He will of course counter that he didn't set his price tag last summer when the Reds paid £116m to land him from Bayer Leverkusen, but his status means he has to offer much more than simply being neat and tidy, especially when his high-profile colleagues are on the treatment table.
Once more, a big game passed him by. Using someone who is supposed to be one of the preeminent No.10s of the modern game on the wing is a tactical failing of Slot, it can be argued, and the lack of pace in those areas hampers Wirtz's ability on the ball centrally, but spells of him in possession too often ended with a harmless sideways pass. It isn't nearly enough on this stage.
But to lay too much of the blame of the players' door would be to absolve Slot of his own failings. Too often this season the Dutchman has watched his team start slowly before seeing them jolted into action by events on the pitch.
Their consistent habit of trying to grow into proceedings isn't working but Slot has not addressed it properly. It took 45 minutes before his team belatedly woke up here. By then, there was already a mountain to climb. That, ultimately, is where the game was lost.
After having the entire week to work on the AXA Training Centre pitches, the abject, error-strewn first 45 was a tough watch. And while Slot will argue that it wasn't an issue when results were going well last term, the sight of the players once more jetting off to various city-break destinations at the start of the week is starting to rankle many supporters. Fairly or not, that is the growing perception.
All managers will tell you how the ability to have a full, uninterrupted week to prepare for games is ideal but this was another example of how they struggled to show what they had been working on behind the scenes.
Slot sent out his players much earlier than their United counterparts having surely read them the riot act and whatever he said during minutes 45 and 46 appeared to work. The Reds came flying out the traps, pouncing on a mistake from substitute Amad Diallo to reduce the deficit via Dominik Szoboszlai, before another error - this time from goalkeeper Senne Lammens - allowed Gakpo to restore parity.
If Liverpool were guilty of anything in a much-improved second half, though, it was an inability to smell blood. Having made it 2-2 by the 56th minute, the visitors allowed the match to drift, rarely testing Lammens any further save for one unorthodox clearance with his feet from Virgil van Dijk's knockdown.
And they were made to pay when Kobbie Mainoo slotted home beautifully after Mac Allister once more failed to clear his lines effectively.
United's early exits in the domestic cups mean this season is their fewest amount of games - just 40 in total - since 1915, which undoubtedly left them the fresher of the two squads for this, particularly given the injury issues at Anfield.
For context, United have now played 37 matches in total this term. Liverpool's 37th fixture was the 2-1 loss against Manchester City in early February. Slot does have some mitigation in that regard.
But 11 defeats now - the worst sequence since 2015, under Brendan Rodgers - means fewer and fewer will listen to those explanations with a sympathetic ear.
There is still a job to do for Slot and his team as they aim to at least secure Champions League football next season. Four points are still needed from the final nine on offer.