Sports
Reds in crisis as pressure grows on Arne Slot after Champions League thrashing
The current crisis at Liverpool plummeted to new depths as they were thumped 4-1 by PSV at Anfield in the Champions League to pile further pressure on Reds boss Arne Slot.
Liverpool were hoping to bounce back from a 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Saturday but suffered further misery as an early Ivan Perisic penalty, followed by a Guus Til goal and Couhaib Driouech brace in the second-half condemned the hosts to a ninth defeat in 12 matches in all competitions – their worst run in more than 70 years.
Dominik Szoboszlai had equalised before the break and appeared like they might go on to win the tie, however, some clinical finishing from the visitors and some torrid defending from Slot’s men ensured it was to be an evening to forget for the Reds.
Slot had been looking to shift some of the heat that has been on him in recent weeks. However, it showed little sign of abating when Perisic dispatched a sixth-minute penalty to give the visitors the early advantage after Virgil van Dijk had handled in the box.
But the lead would last just 10 minutes. After Cody Gakpo drew a save from Matej Kovar, the PSV keeper’s parry fell to Szoboszlai 12 yards out and the versatile Hungarian made no mistake, rifling in the equaliser.
Immediately after, the Dutch side saw a goal disallowed when Yarek Gasiorowski slotted home after Ismael Saibari’s effort rebounded off Giorgi Mamardashvili, but Saibari was offside.
Liverpool then went close when Van Dijk’s looping header hit the crossbar as the momentum began to shift the way of the hosts.
The Reds started well after the break but again were pegged back when Mauro Junior cute diagonal ball in from the left released Til, who steered into the bottom right to restore PSV’s lead.
Things would soon get worse for Slot’s men when Driouech slotted in a third with just over a quarter of an hour remaining after the ball had come back off the post.
Driouech rubbed further salt into the wound in stoppage time, firing his second into the bottom corner from just inside the box as Slot looked on, stunned.
