Liverpool’s highs and lows matter more than ever as Arne Slot question gets unwanted answer

Liverpool fell to a 2-1 home defeat against Manchester City on Sunday which severely dents its Champions League aspirations and throws more questions on its overall improvement

Liverpool's defeat to Manchester City was another infuriating day for Arne Slot

If Manchester City at home, in Liverpool’s 37th game of the season, is a true barometer of the direction Arne Slot’s side is heading, then the reality isn’t pretty. That was what the Dutchman suggested ahead of the game, but not for the first time this season, he may wish to retract those comments.

Trying to assess this Liverpool side is not easy. After 45 minutes: dismal. After 75: on the right track. And at full-time: still glaringly deficient. This is the Reds’ season in a nutshell. The champions can enthral, frustrate, dominate and underwhelm. But ultimately, one thing Liverpool is evidently not is an elite side.

As was evidently the case on Sunday, as the teams that have shared the last eight Premier League titles between them locked horns at Anfield. The chances of that record being extended look unlikely, but Manchester City’s comeback victory has kept its faint hopes alive.

For Liverpool, its aims are less lofty, and yet even achieving a Champions League place cannot be guaranteed. Wins for Manchester United and Chelsea on Saturday, coupled with Sunday’s 2-1 defeat, mean Liverpool is now considered an outsider for a top-five finish.

That United and Chelsea changed head coaches mid-season will not be lost on those demanding the Reds consider alterations. Slot has reiterated his belief that Liverpool is improving. Yet, such is the nature of this season that, just a week after that emphatic win over Newcastle United, the mood has already shifted from hope to despair.

After all, Liverpool has won just once in its seven league outings since the turn of the year, while Erling Haaland’s late penalty at Anfield was the fourth time this season the Reds have lost a league game in injury-time, the most of any side in Premier League history.

It’s a damning statistic, as were the 10 first-half shots City manufactured, the most of any visiting team in the opening 45 at Anfield since Premier League records began. That none were converted briefly quelled any negative sentiment.

This was another frustrating day for Liverpool as it squandered three points(Image: AFP or licensors)

But the anger was expressed in other ways. “Is this the Etihad?” the away support chanted, mocking the flat Anfield atmosphere. A lack of enterprising play has been a recurring criticism this season, and that was again evident on Sunday, as it took until the second period for Liverpool’s first shot on target.

And yet, from that Dominik Szoboszlai effort, which was parried wide, Liverpool dominated. Suddenly, Ryan Gravenberch was breaking the lines, Florian Wirtz was finding gaps, and the Reds’ front three were repeatedly advancing on goal, as the Kop bounced to a medley of its favorite songs.

“Second half, our standards went up,” opined Slot post-match. “We were pressing them all over the place and that is the biggest improvement we have made in the last two or three months. To do so well off the ball is a big improvement. A fantastic second half. I was expecting more than being one goal up and then two goals conceded.”

Sadly, the last point is most salient. This didn’t feel like a Liverpool collapse, but with City finding two goals after Szoboszlai’s exquisite 74th-minute free-kick, it at least suggests Liverpool has not yet grasped how to close out games.

Szoboszlai's look free-kick looked to have handed Liveerpool all three points(Image: Getty Images)

That is unfathomable given how often the Reds achieved that very feat last season, as was the case when City last traveled to Anfield. It’s made even more jarring considering Pep Guardiola admitted on Friday that this current iteration of City is far from a top team.

Nevertheless, his side remains in the title race, as Arsenal’s gap to Liverpool stretched to 17 points. By the time the champions play next, they could find themselves behind local rivals Everton.

All that felt somewhat overshadowed following the climactic end, as Szoboszlai was dismissed and Rayan Cherki’s goal was chalked off. Much of the post-match assessment focused on that bizarre incident and the importance of City’s win, as Guardiola finally came away from a rowdy Anfield with three points. In doing so, he secured City’s first league double over Liverpool since 1937.

But that should not distract from how perilous Liverpool’s position has become.

Slot and Liverpool cannot ignore how perilous the season has become

To rub salt in the wounds, Pep Lijnders and Marc Guehi celebrated in front of the City fans at full-time. “It's bright because they [City] brought a really, really good players, big personalities and Mark will become top. He's already, I would say,” said Guardiola after perhaps his final trip down the East Lancashire Road as a Premier League coach.

Meanwhile, Slot felt the defender should have seen red for his pull-back on Mohamed Salah midway through the second half. On such points can games hinge.

Slot claimed that on too many occasions this season, those decisions have gone against his side. For supporters, it’s that sense of irritability that is becoming all too familiar after trudging out of Anfield.

That, more than any refereeing decision or late concession, is the true indictment of this Liverpool side. This is a team that flirts with control but cannot impose it over 90 minutes, that shows flashes of brilliance and enraging fragility. If this season is to end positively, that must change.