After latest shock loss, no end in sight for Liverpool's nightmare

LIVERPOOL, England -- Liverpool's UEFA Champions League clash with PSV Eindhoven was barely three minutes old when the Anfield crowd started to get restless. As goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili stood with the ball at the feet, pondering his next move, supporters in all corners of the ground started to grumble. This same sequence repeated two times before the clock had ticked past 10 minutes.

By that point, Liverpool were 1-0 down. On a night when Arne Slot's side ultimately slumped to an abject 4-1 defeat, that early frustration spoke of a fan base whose well of goodwill is starting to run dry.

Liverpool have now suffered nine defeats in their last 12 games in all competitions and lost three successive games by three or more goals for the first time since December 1953 -- a season that culminated in relegation. Such an ignominious fate surely does not await the Reds this season, but there can be no denying that they are amid a desperate crisis, with Slot's authority seemingly diminishing by the week.

At the full-time whistle, a smattering of boos could be heard ringing out around the stadium; a damning indictment of a project that appears to be heading in only one direction. If it looked like Saturday's 3-0 loss against Nottingham Forest was set to be the low point of Liverpool's season, their campaign lurched to a new nadir on Wednesday as they tied their heaviest European home defeat (a 5-2 loss to Real Madrid in February 2023).

The tone was set just six minutes into the contest when captain Virgil van Dijk conceded a needless penalty that was coolly converted by Ivan Perisic. The Netherlands international, so often a talisman for Liverpool as they romped to the Premier League title, delivered arguably his poorest performance of the season against his countrymen, with his disjointed display exemplified by the yellow card he picked up for an erratic first-half challenge on midfielder Ismael Saibari.

Liverpool rallied well after the early setback and got their just reward when Dominik Szoboszlai rolled home the rebound after Matej Kovar initially saved Cody Gakpo's strike inside 16 minutes. But their momentum was quickly halted after halftime when Mauro Júnior easily shrugged off Mohamed Salah before playing a defense-splitting pass to set up Guus Til, who duly obliged in restoring the visitors' lead.

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Things went from bad to worse when the hapless Ibrahima Konaté's error opened the door for Couhaib Driouech to make it 3-1 in the 73rd minute, with the PSV forward further compounding Liverpool's misery with a second strike in stoppage time.

"I think it's a shock for everyone," Slot said of Liverpool's poor form in his postmatch news conference. "For the players, for the journalists over here, for me, for everyone, this is a shock. It's very, very, very unexpected if you look at the quality we have. Is it a lack of confidence? I didn't see that in the first half.

"Of course, it's hard if straight after losing 3-0 you concede a goal. I saw the mentality that these players have shown so many times since I'm here. ... But in the end of the game I did see that it affected maybe one or two players that we were 3-1 and 4-1 down."

For Slot, that is the biggest problem. Players who just a few short months ago were prepared to battle with all they had to secure the club's 20th league title now look like they have given up the fight.

For all of the tactical issues facing the Dutchman right now, arresting the mental slide of several of his most experienced stars looks almost like an impossible task. While there are mitigating circumstances for some of his team's frailties, Slot will know better than anyone that such dismal form cannot be tolerated forever.

Asked whether he is concerned about his future at the club, the Liverpool boss said: "I'm not worried. ... My focus is on other things than worrying about my own position. I try to analyze, try to help the players as much as I can, and it's obvious that I don't do it in the way I did that last season, because when you talk about individual errors, I think that's also something that comes from a team effort. So again, I need to do better, and that's what I'm trying to do every single day to improve the team."

As Wednesday night's game edged nearer the full-time whistle, the jubilant PSV fans struck up an ironic chorus of Monty Python's "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life," directed at the large number of home supporters flooding towards the exits. For Slot and for Liverpool, though, it is becoming increasingly difficult to see light at the end of the tunnel.