Arne Slot promises Liverpool will ‘fight on’ after humiliating Champions League defeat

These are abnormal times at Anfield and so Arne Slot reached for a semblance of normality. A manager who can be at his most rational after defeats said it was normal that, in such circumstances, there would be talk about his position.

Nine weeks ago, there were none, and for obvious reasons. Liverpool had a five-point lead at the Premier League summit. Slot had won the title in his maiden season. He seemed the seamless successor, the Bob Paisley to Jurgen Klopp’s Bill Shankly. Now there are other flashbacks to Liverpool’s past: by losing three successive matches by at least three goals, Slot has done something no one accomplished since the long-forgotten Don Welsh in the relegation season of 1953-54.

Arne Slot has promised that his Liverpool team will ‘keep fighting no matter how difficult’ it gets for them to turnaround their shocking run of form.

The Reds have lost nine of their last 12 fixtures across all competitions in what is the worst run of form for the club since 1953/54.

Liverpool were beaten 4-1 by PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League on Wednesday night in what was their third defeat in a row where they conceded three or more goals.

Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones admitted “we’re in the sh**” and said he was “past being angry” after the 4-1 defeat to PSV in the Champions League consigned the Reds to their worst run of form in 12 years.

Arne Slot’s side were humbled at Anfield for their third defeat in a row and ninth in 12 games, in what is their worst run of results since the 1953-54 season.

Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher believes Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk are showing their age this season and has claimed their “legs have gone” amid a run of nine defeats in 12 games.

Liverpool are on their worst spell of results since 1954, falling to a 4-1 defeat to PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League on Wednesday night, with their dramatic decline under Arne Slot coming just six months after the Reds lifted the Premier League title.

What’s the solution? Slot said after yesterday’s defeat:

“The only way to go is to go through it now. And what I mean by that is we just have to face what we are in and fight really hard.

“It will be nice if we don't, every time, have this knack of conceding a goal, because it's not only conceding a goal, it's the feeling, at least the feeling I have and I think the players will probably have the same, and our fans as well.

“After 45 minutes, you don't expect it to be 1-1, you expect to be up. Instead of being up five or 10 minutes after half-time, again we conceded. That's hard.”

More goals conceded because of set-pieces, counter-attacks and individual errors, more when they looked ragged when they chased a game....

Liverpool have had further evidence that Mohamed Salah’s inability to track back is a problem, that Ibrahima Konate is in awful form and that, rather than Alexander Isak, they really should have bought Marc Guehi on deadline day and, if Slot does not trust him, sold Joe Gomez.

Meanwhile, Isak is no nearer match fitness and Liverpool are playing with 10 men whenever the £125m man is on the pitch. Slot still regards last season’s midfield as a comfort blanket but even when Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai are reunited, that is no guarantee against chastening defeats.

Left-back has been a problem position for nearly all of the season – Steven Gerrard’s caustic observation that Milos Kerkez spent most of the PSV game out of position rang sadly true – and right-back for swathes of it.

• Liverpool have lost nine of their last 12 games across all competitions, their most defeats over a 12-game spell since November 1953 to January 1954
• The have lost three consecutive games in all competitions by a margin of 3+ goals for the first time since December 1953
• And Arne Slot’s team have conceded 3+ goals in three consecutive games in all competitions for the first time since September 1992

Steven Gerrard has insisted that Liverpool are not yet in a “crisis” but warned that their dismal run of form could get even worse unless Arne Slot finds a solution to the lack of balance in the team.

Liverpool lost for the ninth time in 12 games as Slot’s side collapsed at home against PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League on Wednesday, just a few days after their shock defeat to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League.

Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones summed up the frustration around Anfield after the Reds fell to their ninth defeat in 12 games in the 4-1 loss to PSV

"I don’t have the answers. Honestly, I don’t. I’m saying that to everybody. It’s just unacceptable,” Jones said to Irish broadcaster RTE.

"I don’t even have to wait to think about it. I’m past being angry inside. I’m at the point now where I just don’t have the words.

"It’s hard because I’m playing for the team I support. I’m a fan, and I’ve seen this club all my life.

"In a long, long time, I haven’t experienced a Liverpool team going through a period like this with results like these.”

Liverpool legend Steve Gerrard said the Reds are not in a “crisis” yet but called on Arne Slot to come up with solutions to the issues in the team to halt their worrying slide.

"No it’s not [acceptable]," he told TNT Sports. "They’re conceding too many goals, they’re so vulnerable in transition.

"Crisis is a very strong word and disrespectful to the players and manager who have served this football club," he said.

“I wouldn't use that word but this team is on a terrible run, they just keep bleeding.

"They're wide open and unless the manager can find a solution it's going to continue."