After a bright start, Liverpool capitulated, conceding four times in the space of 20 minutes either side of half-time. The fact that no further embarrassment was inflicted owed more to City easing off than any discernible improvement from the visitors.<\/p>\n
Slot\u2019s Liverpool look so brittle, so broken. Rather than dig deep when faced with adversity, they wilt. The \u201cmentality monsters\u201d the Dutchman\u2019s predecessor Jurgen Klopp used to talk about now resemble mentality minnows. The body language is so poor \u2014 too many players feeling sorry for themselves rather than taking responsibility.<\/p>\n
Dominik Szoboszlai bemoaned the lack of \u201cfighting spirit\u201d afterwards, and what was most galling about that damaging spell in the match when Liverpool fell to pieces was the inability to do even the basics.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you tell me that from 15 runs City made, we didn\u2019t follow them 15 times, then I don\u2019t agree with you,\u201d Slot said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut if you simply look at the goals, I see runs not being followed, I see crosses not being blocked, I see duels not being won. Every single time we forget to block a cross or follow a runner, then it was a goal. No one will remember it, but in the first 35 minutes, there was a lot to like from my team.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rot set in after Virgil van Dijk\u2019s rash challenge on Nico O\u2019Reilly allowed Erling Haaland to break the deadlock from the penalty spot. Florian Wirtz failed to track Antoine Semenyo in the build-up to the second goal, with Ibrahima Konate beaten far too easily in the air by Haaland.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2269775020-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Van Dijk gave away a penalty that allowed City to take a 1-0 lead (Michael Regan\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The third was even worse, with Joe Gomez inexplicably gifting the ball to Marc Guehi from a Liverpool throw-in. Two passes later, Semenyo was running in behind Van Dijk to score. The fourth saw Slot\u2019s side plumb greater depths with O\u2019Reilly allowed to waltz through and tee up Haaland to complete his hat-trick.<\/p>\n
What a nightmare start to a season-defining run of fixtures. A sense of trepidation will accompany Wednesday\u2019s Champions League quarter-final first leg against holders Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes. Ousmane Dembele, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Desire Doue will be licking their lips at the sight of such glaring frailties.<\/p>\n
The buck stops with Slot. The ease with which opponents are able to play through Liverpool points to glaring tactical issues. He\u2019s been unable to find solutions to the problems that have dogged his soon-to-be-deposed Premier League champions all season and excuses are wearing thin.<\/p>\n
\u201cAgain, we faced a team that was outperforming their xG (expected goals) by a mile, and that\u2019s happened constantly. We are always under ours,\u201d he said on Saturday. \u201cIt would be nice if we could score a goal once in a while from the chances we create.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yes, Mohamed Salah and Hugo Ekitike were guilty of missing big opportunities when it was 0-0, with the former\u2019s miserable afternoon summed up by his failure to convert a second-half penalty.<\/p>\n
But City, who created an xG of 2.5 versus 1.4 for the visitors, were slicker, quicker, showed greater hunger and were more ruthless in all departments. Given how Liverpool have gone toe-to-toe with City throughout much of the Pep Guardiola era, the chasm that has opened up between the sides this season is alarming.<\/p>\n
Liverpool have lost the three meetings by a combined score of nine goals to one. That\u2019s some fall from grace having done the double over City en route to the title a year ago.<\/p>\n
The most damning indictment of what they served up at the Etihad on Saturday afternoon was the sight of away supporters heading for the exits before the hour mark, after City went four up. You could hardly blame them, given how badly they had been let down.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2269783462-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n It was a difficult afternoon for Liverpool fans at the Etihad (Carl Recine\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want them to leave early. We have to perform better,\u201d Slot said. \u201cIt is up to us to react for them and for ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
This was Liverpool\u2019s 15th defeat of the campaign in all competitions \u2014 their most since 2014-15, when the wheels came off Rodgers\u2019 reign. That was the season that began with Luis Suarez\u2019s sale to Barcelona, when they made a hash of replacing him with the signings of Mario Balotelli and Rickie Lambert.<\/p>\n
Saturday was the heaviest loss of Slot\u2019s near two-season reign, but the fifth time in 2025-26 that Liverpool have been beaten by three goals or more.<\/p>\n
The mitigating factors have been well documented, but the manager continues to haemorrhage support among the fanbase. Some pointedly chanted the name of Xabi Alonso, the former Liverpool midfielder turned coach who is available after being fired by Real Madrid in January, as they made their way out of the Etihad.<\/p>\n
FSG wants to give the Dutchman the chance to put things right next season, but that position will be untenable if the campaign completely unravels in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
That period straight after half-time here was the most worrying. Whatever Slot said in the dressing room during the break clearly didn\u2019t hit home as Liverpool got worse rather than better. He was also too slow to make substitutions.<\/p>\n
Now it\u2019s Champions League or bust.<\/p>\n
Bringing a seventh European Cup to Anfield in May seems fanciful. Securing the top-five finish his team need to play in UEFA\u2019s blue-riband club competition again next season looks daunting enough with the fixtures they have left \u2014 the seven matches include trips to Everton (currently three points behind them in eighth), Manchester United (third) and Aston Villa (fourth), plus home games with Chelsea (sixth) and Brentford (seventh).<\/p>\n
Can Slot summon a response from the wreckage of such an abject surrender?<\/p>\n
Liverpool\u2019s illustrious European history is littered with heroic tales.<\/p>\n
Given their current plight, they will need another miracle to get past PSG.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The setting was a plush executive box at Fenway Park, home of baseball\u2019s Boston Red Sox, in July…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567638,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[2733,3450,1084,403,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-567637","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-fa-cup","9":"tag-liverpool","10":"tag-premier-league","11":"tag-soccer","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}