The FA Cup and the Champions League were seen as the lifeline for Liverpool this season, after the wheels of a title defence fell off well before Christmas. Now, a new reality is setting in.
What a difference a year makes. Just over 12 months ago Arne Slot’s Liverpool exited the Champions League to PSG with heads held high, having won away in Paris and given a solid account of themselves at Anfield.
That they would be separated only by the lottery of a penalty shootout, and go out to the team who would ultimately win the whole competition, felt fitting.
All was rosy on Merseyside, Liverpool had been marginally edged out by Europe’s best team, but would retain momentum to surge on and become Premier League champions at a canter.
There is now, however, a pretty sizeable reality check to be had. Liverpool are not their old selves.
LFC vs. PSG: 2024/25 vs. 2025/26
Statistic LFC 24/25 LFC 25/26 PSG 24/25 PSG 25/26
Possession 38% 39.5% 62% 60.5%
Total Shots 21 24 48 30
On Target 4 5 18 12
Big Chances 4 2 7 7
xG Total 1.78 2.14 4.41 3.44
* Trend across 24/25 and 25/26 UCL ties. Data via FotMob. Green/Red cells indicate performance shift for each club compared to the previous season.
The Reds entered this quarter-final clash as clear underdogs, something universally recognised as soon as the draw was made.
For a team who won their domestic division, one often labelled the toughest in world football, and who then spent over £400 million in the summer, it feels oddly dislocating.
This is a season of transition and, rightly or wrongly, some fans really do not want to hear this. Liverpool may be reigning Premier League champions but there was always an admission behind closed doors that sweeping changes were occurring rapidly.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Tuesday, April 14, 2026: Liverpool's Mohamed Salah and captain Virgil van Dijk (R) react after the UEFA Champions League Quarter-Final 2nd Leg match between Liverpool FC and Paris Saint-Germain FC at Anfield. PSG won 4-0 on aggregate. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
The handing of new, lucrative deals to Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk likely came with the assumption that the two leaders of the team would go on to have jaw-dropping seasons again, before tailing off for the final 12 months of their deals.
Instead, both have been several levels below their usual dizzyingly high standards from the get-go.
Combine this with an array of new faces, and the selling of some influential figures from recent seasons, and Liverpool have been left mis-matched all over.
Is Arne Slot’s belief misguided?
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Tuesday, April 14, 2026: Liverpool's head coach Arne Slot applauds the supporters after the UEFA Champions League Quarter-Final 2nd Leg match between Liverpool FC and Paris Saint-Germain FC at Anfield. PSG won 2-0 on the night, 4-0 on aggregate. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
Following PSG’s eventual 2-0 win at Anfield, pulled off with relative ease, Slot fronted up to reporters and maintained that his team are moving in the right direction.
The Liverpool boss told Prime Video: “We made a big progression compared to last week. Our fans kept pushing us.
“Unfortunately it’s one of the many examples this season when we didn’t take our chances. But the future looks very bright for this team. We showed we can compete with the champions of Europe.”
It’s the last line which isn’t sitting too well with many supporters. This feeling that Liverpool can share the ring with European royalty and manage to exchange a few punches. It doesn’t feel right.
Liverpool vs. PSG: 24/25 vs. 25/26 Comparison
LFC Statistic 24/25 25/26 Shift
Possession 38% 39.5% +1.5%
Total Shots 21 24 +3
Shots on Target 4 5 +1
Big Chances 4 2 -2
Expected Goals (xG) 1.78 2.14 +0.36
Final Score (Agg) 1 0 -1
* Comparison of Liverpool’s performance across the two most recent Champions League ties against PSG. Data via FotMob.
Since the Jurgen Klopp era, fans have become accustomed to Liverpool being the best of the best. A team rapidly improving in quality on the pitch, while soaring in belief and character off it.
Many a time did a Klopp Liverpool side turn up to a match and put in a second-best performance, yet still came away with victory because they knew how to fight it over the line.
The issue with Slot’s Liverpool right now isn’t the quality, but the structure and coherence of it all. The modus operandi of this football club, what is it now? Does anyone know?
It’s easy for critics to pile onto the manager after this widely dubbed defining two weeks of the season. If Liverpool had played like they did at Anfield on Tuesday night but instead faced a less dynamic and press-minded team, like a Sporting CP or an Atletico Madrid, they would now likely be booking flights for a semi-final jolly.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Tuesday, April 14, 2026: Paris Saint-Germain's Ousmane Dembélé celebrates with team-mate Achraf Hakimi (R) after scoring the second goal during the UEFA Champions League Quarter-Final 2nd Leg match between Liverpool FC and Paris Saint-Germain FC at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
But it’s largely irrelevant. The Champions League will at some stage pit you against the best of the best and Liverpool are no longer up to PSG standards, nor Bayern Munich or even Real Madrid despite their own wayward form.
Slot may hold belief that good things are coming for this talented squad he has at his disposal, but what he does over the next few months will categorically make or break his Liverpool legacy.
Slot needs to map an identity
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Tuesday, April 14, 2026: Liverpool's head coach Arne Slot (R) and first assistant coach Sipke Hulshoff react to VAR sending referee Maurizio Mariani to the monitor for a penalty check during the UEFA Champions League Quarter-Final 2nd Leg match between Liverpool FC and Paris Saint-Germain FC at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
Liverpool fans inside Anfield will never fully turn on the manager. They’ll voice displeasure, sure, hence the brief sounding of boos following last month’s dismal last-minute draw to a totally abject Tottenham side.
But the Kop won’t hound a manager, especially one who has delivered a Premier League title so emphatically.
Slot knows this, and it has helped cut through the echo chamber that is social media criticism. However, all that said, the time to act is now.
This Liverpool squad have had the majority of a full season together and yet nobody would confidently bet on which fixtures they will almost certainly win.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Saturday, April 11, 2026: Liverpool's head coach Arne Slot before the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Fulham FC at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
Aston Villa away, Fulham away, Brentford at home. These sort of random matches which you look at and think OK, that’s a win. All covered. These are now the games Liverpool are losing or, typically, controlling for 90 minutes and then still managing to throw it away anyway.
Slot knows the abilities, strengths and weaknesses of this very expensive team, and now it’s time to get them into a system together which makes things happen.
At both AZ and Feyenoord, Slot proved beyond all doubt that he is very good at assembling an XI and getting it to perform to a greater level than the sum of its parts.
The issue at Liverpool these days however is the numerous parts have incredibly high sums. A £110 million playmaker here, a £125 million striker there, backed up by a £79 million attacker who still yet doesn’t have a universally agreed position.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Wednesday, January 28, 2026: Liverpool's Florian Wirtz (R) celebrates with team-mate Hugo Ekitike after scoring the second goal during the UEFA Champions League match between Liverpool FC and Qaraba? FK at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
Liverpool are suffering from something of an identity crisis. They’re aware the team is stocked full of top footballers, yet they also know they can’t seize and kill off football matches.
On Tuesday night, the Reds had 21 shots to PSG’s 12, yet only five on target compared to six by the visitors. They held a superior 53 percent of possession and a stronger xG, yet lost the game 2-0 and could have no real argument in saying the better team lost.
Liverpool had plenty of willing on the night, and for this reason many pundits surmised that the Reds would’ve been in a much better position had they turned out performances like that all season.
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But therein lies the issue. Liverpool have good players but no functioning, repeatable system. It’s the exact reason why they haven’t been able to play like this all season, because the script to fall back on doesn’t exist.
PSG, likewise, gave a perfect example of how this is done.
Did they put on a clinic in top-level football at Anfield? No. But they didn’t need to. Luis Enrique’s men have star quality but also a very organic and recognised way of playing.
They got the job done, like all top teams do.
Progress needs to happen now
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Tuesday, April 14, 2026: Liverpool's head coach Arne Slot reacts during the UEFA Champions League Quarter-Final 2nd Leg match between Liverpool FC and Paris Saint-Germain FC at Anfield. PSG won 2-0 on the night, 4-0 on aggregate. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
The FA Cup and Champions League lifelines are gone. The cup runs many had been clinging onto are concluded, with Liverpool going out by collective 4-0 scorelines in each. Outclassed by Man City, outplayed by PSG.
There is truth to the whole notion of things getting worse before they can get better, but Liverpool now ought to be past the point of confusing decline.
If enough points cannot be mustered to achieve Champions League qualification (which again this season is paying out across the top five finishers) then Slot and this team only have themselves to blame.
It’s a bare minimum, and Premier League champions should always book their place in Europe’s top competition the following season.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Saturday, April 11, 2026: Liverpool's Mohamed Salah walks out before the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Fulham FC at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
Now, with just a short window left to navigate, morale may be low but the situation itself happens to be perfectly clear.
Everyone now knows Mo Salah is leaving, with his place and status in the squad needing to be filled. The experience of Andy Robertson also departs, and Liverpool face the mounting possibility of having to sell senior first-team stars who are yet to agree contract extensions.
Big-money deals for the likes of Jeremy Jacquet have already been agreed, and a shortlist of summer targets should almost certainly have been drawn up well ahead of time.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Saturday, December 13, 2025: Liverpool's head coach Arne Slot gives Dominik Szoboszlai instructions whilst Joe Gomez receives treatment during the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Brighton & Hove Albion FC at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
All that remains therefore is for Slot’s Liverpool to actually become a whole, recognisable thing.
It’s been 12 months since Liverpool matched PSG punch for punch, now they look on with envy as Enrique’s men progress at their expense without breaking so much as a sweat.
A lot can change in a year and Liverpool are certainly a more inferior team as of right now. The steps taken to alter this verdict again in another 12 months’ time stand as some of the biggest the club have ever presided over.