Liverpool lost 3-2 against Manchester United in the Premier League, but Arne Slot and Michael Carrick both have work to do before next season to take the next step with their teams
04:00, 04 May 2026
Arne Slot, head coach of Liverpool, and Michael Carrick, interim manager of Manchester United.
Arne Slot, head coach of Liverpool, and Michael Carrick, interim manager of Manchester United.(Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Manchester United, no doubt, will take plenty of heart from this. Liverpool, for obvious reasons, won’t be feeling so cheery.
Coming back from two goals down? Good. Being two down in the first place? Certainly not. Though it helped that Liverpool battled harder after the break, the change in fortunes was more that Arne Slot set his team up wrong in the first 45 minutes and fixed it in the second, making for the classic game of two halves.
A similar sort of assessment can be made with Manchester United, too, however. Though it won the game, it let in two goals in a silly manner and was very nearly made to pay for a poor start to the second half.
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Amad Diallo negatively changed things when he was introduced and Dominik Szoboszlai pounced, but Liverpool didn’t create that much, in truth. Individual errors from Michael Carrick’s men did that for them — with Cody Gakpo’s goal coming via that route as well.
From there, Liverpool didn’t push on and find a third, instead drifting again and letting the game get away from it. While one team came away victorious and the other deflated, Kobbie Mainoo’s effort, in the end, was the difference between two fundamentally flawed sides.
"The margins are not so big on us being able to win a game like this," Slot insisted at the final whistle. "I know what we can improve on and we are already working hard on this.
Dominik Szoboszlai celebrates scoring for Liverpool against Man Utd.
Dominik Szoboszlai celebrates scoring for Liverpool against Man Utd.(Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
"The same issues keep coming back which is not a huge surprise as you don't have long to fix it during the season. Tactically, you can change certain things, but for me it is clear where we have to improve and we will."
Right now, neither Liverpool nor Manchester United look like potential title contenders next season, really.
The rollercoaster of a game says plenty, for instance. Title winners don’t find themselves two down like that; nor do they allow a side to come back with that kind of cushion.
For Slot, that is the challenge that he is set to tackle this summer.
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On the training field and in the transfer market, there is plenty of work that needs doing, even if Liverpool was desperately unfortunate to miss Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitike and Mohamed Salah — and both goalkeepers, Alisson Becker and Giorgi Mamardashvili — all through injury.
While Carrick and his players celebrated wildly at the final whistle, they and Liverpool will know there is much to improve — for both clubs, not just the losers.
Neither will get far in the Champions League playing like this, even though they are each going to qualify. Neither, on this evidence, will be fighting Arsenal and Manchester City for the title next term without a perfect summer and a fairly hard reset.