The Reds have already lost more Premier League games than they did in the entirety of last season
“I think it is crisis time for Liverpool,” said Roy Keane on Sunday, as the Sky Sports studio attempted to come to terms with the worst performance by a Liverpool side in a big game in recent history.
In Pep Guardiola’s 1000th game as manager, and a fixture that had been billed as the ultimate climax between the two most successful teams of the last decade, Liverpool collapsed.
Coming into the game on the back of four losses out of their last five, more than 50,000 fans poured into Manchester’s Etihad Stadium on Sunday night expecting a huge response. After all, it was only Tuesday that Arne Slot’s side had overcome Real Madrid.
And yet, Liverpool offered absolutely nothing.
Best Irish betting offers – 18+, BeGambleAware
Constantly throughout the 90 minutes, City star Jeremy Doku was able to pass through last season’s title-winning defence as easily as a hot knife might cut through butter.
A brilliant Giorgi Mamardashvili penalty save may have saved the Reds in the opening 10 minutes, but by the half-hour mark it was 1-0.
Virgil van Dijk was then very unlucky to see his 38th minute header ruled out for offside, but less than 10 minutes later it was 2-0, and two goals too far for the Reds to come back.
After full-time, Liverpool manager Slot made clear how happy he was with his team’s performance in the second half, saying: “In the second half, when we were doing better, you could see could us winning much more duels.
“Then we were more than a few times able to win the ball, which didn’t result in a goal for us. But in the second half we definitely deserved a goal.”
Despite the improvement, they still lost the half 1-0 through a Jeremy Doku wonderstrike, and the match 3-0.
The worst part for Arne Slot’s side is that Sunday’s result wasn’t just one game. It was simply the latest setback in a season to forget for Liverpool.
While the former PSV coach admitted that his hopes of defending the Premier League title are all but over, saying: “The last thing I should speak about is the title race. We have to focus on getting results,” but the stats tell a different story.
Having now lost eight games in all competitions, unless things improve soon, Liverpool will have a real battle on their hands to simply qualify for European football next year.
What do the numbers say?
- Liverpool’s five Premier League losses has already passed their total of four last season. Having gone on a run of four consecutive losses last month, the Reds would need a miracle to match last season’s points total.
- Liverpool are the first reigning Premier League champions to concede 17 goals in their first 11 games. Ironically the last Premier League side to do so, were Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool in 2020-21.
- Liverpool have lost more games this year than under-fire Man United manager Ruben Amorim. Despite Amorim seeming far closer to a potential sacking, he’s now got a better record than Slot! Number of games lost in 2025: 14 – Ruben Amorim | 16 – Arne Slot
- Liverpool have now lost four consecutive Premier League away games for the first time since April 2012. Back when Kenny Dalglish was in charge!
- Liverpool will have lost 40% of their games since exiting last season’s champions league. Slot’s side more or less wrapped up the title by the end of March last year, but their loss to PSG in the Champions League round of 16 seems to have been the turning point.
- Only twice in the last 15 years has a team won a Premier League title with more than five defeats in a league campaign. Man City overcame the odds both times. They lost six in the 2013/14 and 2020/21 seasons respectively. But with Arsenal and flying high this season, the Reds could already be too far back!
It’s not all doom and gloom!
- Last time Liverpool failed to score in the Premier League, they went 26 games unbeaten. If one team knows how to turn things around its Liverpool. And they’ve got two weeks to get back into shape.
- Man City’s xG (expected goals) was only 0.27 higher than Liverpool’s yesterday! While the final scoreline tells another story, the underlying stats show the gap wasn’t as bad as it seemed. xG almost always balances out in the end, so if the Reds can start taking their chances, the results should follow.
