Liverpool ‘past being angry’ as Arne Slot fights for his future after humiliating Champions League defeat

• 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

There has been too little evidence in the last two months that he does. Over his reign, it is worth noting that he still has the highest win percentage of any Liverpool manager; even if he did not win any of the next eight, it would still be above Bob Paisley’s.

Jurgen Klopp always knew that Champions League qualification had a huge financial importance for Liverpool and they are currently 12th in the Premier League.

It is a status symbol, a barometer of what can be achieved when the title is gone. Last autumn Pep Guardiola had his own run of nine losses in 12; those with any understanding of Manchester City never expected him to be sacked and nor should he have been. Guardiola salvaged third place from the season. Could Slot do something similar?

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’s latest chastening defeat at Anfield, losing 4-1 to PSV in the Champions League, means the club hierarchy has no choice but to consider whether the manager is still right for the job.

Jamie Carragher has said Arne Slot’s position is “untenable” just yet but admitted that a lot of supporters will be feeling that the manager’s future is at risk amid their worst run of results in more than 70 years.

He told CBS Sports: “Liverpool are different from almost every club in European football, where the manager is the king, the managers get time. Liverpool have never sacked a manager who’s won the league. Never, in history. After a few years they’ve gone, they’ve resigned.

“I’ve always been in the camp of you stick with the manager, because I’m angry with the players, I’m really angry with the players. But it does get to a stage with any manager at any club where I always use this word, untenable, where it almost feels like it can’t go on any longer.

“I’m not quite there yet personally, in terms of the manager, but I know a lot of supporters will be.”

Jamie Carragher has said Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk are showing their age this season.

Former Reds defender Carragher admitted he finds it difficult to criticise two players have been so pivotal to Liverpool’s success.

But he said: “You’re watching Van Dijk now, not the same player, and Salah looks like his legs have gone.

“I don’t like criticising them on the pitch, because they’re absolutely legendary what they’ve done, and the legs have just gone, especially with Salah.

“Van Dijk now can’t help other players. He needs help himself.”

Arne Slot said after last night’s defeat to PSV that he still feels the “trust” of his Liverpool bosses, including sporting director Richard Hughes.

“They are helpful to me, to the team,” Slot said. “We do have those conversations. They don’t call me every second to say they still trust me. When we do have those conversations, I feel the trust. I haven’t spoken to them after this game yet; we will see.”

He added: “I have been feeling safe. I have a lot of support from above. It would be nice if I could turn it around and produce a victory. But [the noise] is part and parcel of being a coach if you are not doing well.”

After falling to a third defeat in a row, Liverpool will travel to a West Ham side who are now unbeaten in three under Nuno Espirito Santo.

West Ham remain in 17th in the Premier League, though, and Sunday’s clash will be a fixture that champions Liverpool should be expected to win.

Arne Slot will be appearing at his pre-match press conference at 3pm this afternoon, where he is set to face questions about his team’s run of form as well as scrutiny over his future.

Arne Slot’s excellence against Dutch clubs propelled him to Liverpool. Now it is a sign of how everything seems to be going wrong for Slot that even that prowess appears to have deserted him, that a humiliation at the hands of a club from his homeland prompted him to admit it is normal to wonder if he can remain at Anfield.

As Peter Bosz was the Dutch master in the dugout, adding the scalp of the champions of England to their Italian counterparts, scarcely believably, Liverpool suffered a ninth defeat in 12 games, and they did not just lose. They were hammered in historic fashion by PSV Eindhoven.

Twelfth in the Premier League, 13th in the Champions League, hit for four by PSV, this is crisis time for Slot and Liverpool. “It is a shock for everyone, for the players, for me, this is very unexpected,” he said.

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.