Arne Slott’s Liverpool equalized in the 90th minute but could not beat Tottenham. (Image: Getty Images/PA)
Few Premier League champions have experienced such a grueling 180 points. Last April, Liverpool clinched their 20th title by defeating Tottenham in the Anfield sunshine. It was the best day this iconic stadium has ever seen. The sun was shining again against Spurs yesterday, with the Londoners back in L4 for the first time, but the full-time outlook looked very bleak for Liverpool after a 1-1 draw. For Arne Slot, dark clouds loom overhead.
After 30 games last season, Liverpool had 22 wins, seven draws and one loss. The difference between them and second place Arsenal is 12 points. After four games, the Reds were champions. At the same stage this season, they are in fifth place, 21 points behind league leaders the Gunners. The slot side won 14 out of 30 matches, drew 7 and lost 9. After September 20th, his performance deteriorated to W9, D7, and L9. The drop from 12 months ago is evident for a number of reasons. And the harsh reality is that slots are unlikely to be able to turn the tide.
He might argue that this Liverpool team hasn’t lost as regularly as they did in October and November. However, their actual performance has changed incredibly little since then. This latest screening far exceeded the required standards. No wonder there were boos at full time. There were quite a few empty seats. Many fans gave up as soon as Richarlison scored.
The belief and optimism that was the heartbeat of Anfield under Jurgen Klopp is fast disappearing. This Liverpool side are far more likely to give up points late on than they are to pick them up. What a change this is for a team that started the season with slow winners in all of their first five games.
This latest failure was against a Spurs team that was hopelessly lacking in confidence. With 13 players missing through injury and suspension, a winless season in 2026 and a desperate scrap in the Premier League’s relegation battle, their morale was maintained.
A weak Liverpool team gave them confidence. And, unsurprisingly, he conceded a game-changing goal in the 90th minute, his eighth in the Premier League this season. That’s pathetic. We lost 11 points. The goal Liverpool conceded after 75 minutes was their 21st in all competitions this season. They went from being psychotic monsters to being psychotic dwarfs.
Arne Slott’s second season at Liverpool was mostly a disaster. (Image: Getty)
The draw with Spurs was unacceptable on many levels. Liverpool were at Anfield. Liverpool took the lead. The game started to pick up in the second half, which should have been a boon for a team that has struggled with low blocks all season, and they brought on Mohamed Salah and Hugo Ekitike after the hour mark. Tottenham have historically been in poor form and Liverpool had the chance to move up to fourth and capitalize on the lapses of their top-four rivals.
However, the 16th-placed Spurs, who had lost six straight, created more big chances and hit more shots on target. This is the worst low of the campaign so far. There is no excuse for failing to defeat Igor Tudor’s charges.
The fear factor at Anfield, which was key to the club’s success under Klopp, has all but disappeared. In addition to this, Ruben Amorim’s Man United won here, while Sean Dyche’s Nottingham Forest also won 3-0. PSV finished 28th in the final Champions League standings, but defeated the Reds 4-1 in their own half. Newly promoted Sunderland, Leeds and Burnley all left with just one point.
Liverpool are fifth in the Premier League home table with 28 points out of 45. The maximum number they can end a campaign with is 54 to 37. You have to go back 10 years to get numbers this low with fans in stadiums. Excluding the lockdown season, Klopp’s lowest call-up was 43 in the 2017-18 season.
Goal scorer Dominik Szoboszlai even said after the game, “If we continue like this, we should be happy with the conference league (next season), so we have to wake up.” For a champion to miss out on Champions League qualification is like getting punched in the jaw by Mike Tyson in his prime.
This is a team that had a huge summer transfer window. That was also exciting at the time. Yes, they lost some key players, but they were successful in signing the likes of Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz. The purpose was to improve the team. To lead them to new titles and European glory. Isaac, watching from home, probably can’t believe what he’s seeing. “Intensity is our identity,” Klopp and his No.2 Pep Lijnders said in 2019. What exactly is that identity?
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Liverpool have only won 4 of their 12 Premier League games in 2026. (Image: Getty)
Liverpool live in a world where they hope to take advantage of the team who went from bottom of the league to finishing 10th last season when Brentford take on Wolves tonight. If the Bees win, they will be two points behind Liverpool and will suddenly be ranked seventh this season. For the reigning champion of this country. Someone who spent hundreds of millions of pounds on pre-season.
The sad reality is that even if Liverpool finish in the top five, there are big question marks over whether Slott can make this team great again. He’s not solely responsible for all of the team’s problems. Players also have to accept a lot of criticism. But this team is less than the sum of its parts.
The performances and results delivered by a team of title-winning players, as well as big summer contracts, are unacceptable. It’s not a bad group of players. But it’s a group of players who haven’t been coached enough. Liverpool still have a big transfer window to go, but Slott isn’t the one to oversee it. He is too far away to save himself.
