'Shocked' Slot facing a full-blown crisis

LIVERPOOL, England — Arne Slot was facing a full-blown crisis at Liverpool on Wednesday after the beleaguered English champion lost by a three-goal margin for the third straight game, plunging it into its worst run of form in more than 70 years.

PSV Eindhoven pulled away for a 4-1 win at Anfield in the Champions League to leave Liverpool with nine defeats in its last 12 games, a scarcely believable streak for a team that cruised to the Premier League title just a matter of months ago and then spent $570 million on new players in the summer transfer window.

"This is a shock. This is very, very unexpected," said Slot, whose position is coming under increasing scrutiny.

The Dutchman said it was inevitable there would be speculation over his future, given the run of results.

"If any manager around the world loses football games, let alone as many as we have lost, it's quite normal for people to have an opinion about that. If it's fair or unfair, it's for other people to judge. Is that normal? I think it is. If you lose so many times, people start talking about that."

The last time Liverpool lost nine games in a 12-game streak in all competitions was in the 1953-54 season, stats company Opta said.

The current side was coming off 3-0 losses in the Premier League at Manchester City before the international break, and then at home to Nottingham Forest on Saturday. Liverpool also lost 3-0 at Anfield to Crystal Palace in the English League Cup last month.

"This used to be a place where you hated to come, with the fans, with us, how we played, how we pressed. We were absolute dogs, and then we have the ball and play," Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones said. "Now, we hardly even play. There's times when we do play, but off-the-ball stuff, that's the stuff that has to change."

Defensive blunders have been largely to blame for Liverpool's issues, and there were more against PSV, the Dutch champion and current Eredivisie leader, which had already beaten Napoli 6-2 in the Champions League this season.

Firstly, Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk's raised his arm at a corner and handled the ball to give away a penalty, converted by 36-year-old Ivan Perisic for the opener. Van Dijk complained a push in his back threw him off-balance, but his appeals were ignored.

Dominik Szoboszlai equalized 10 minutes later, but after Guus Til regained the lead for PSV, Liverpool centerback Ibrahima Konate — a target of criticism from fans and pundits, alike, in recent months — missed the ball completely to let the visitors in on goal again.

US forward Ricardo Pepi shot against the post and Couhaib Driouech was there to convert the rebound. Minutes later, Konate was taken off.

Liverpool was bedraggled, and Driouech added a fourth during stoppage time to complete the humiliation.

"We just have to face what we are in and fight really hard," Slot said.

Liverpool sits 13th in the 36-team Champions League standings and is in 12th place in the 20-team Premier League.

Adding to Slot's problems was an apparent back injury to striker Hugo Ekitike, who was forced off in the 61st minute.

Liverpool currently only has five senior defenders available, and one of them, Joe Gomez, was not brought off the bench because he has a nagging knee issue.

First-choice goalkeeper Alisson Becker didn't feature, either, reportedly because of illness.

Agencies via Xinhua