Arne Slot has admitted his side now need perfection but do they have what it takes?
Liverpool heartbreakingly surrendered the lead and then lost all three points against Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday, first Bernardo Silva’s sliding shot and then Erling Haaland’s penalty sucker punching Arne Slot’s Reds.
The fact that Dominic Szoboszlai, their undisputed best performer this season, was also red carded in the last minute for a pointless tug on Haaland’s shirt was just the ugly bonus.
But beyond losing 2-1 at home when they had the lead with six minutes to go in normal time, beyond even losing home and away to City for the first time in 89 years, the result also left Liverpool in sixth place and four points adrift of the top five.
The teams fourth and fifth, Manchester United and Chelsea, are in better form than the Reds and are odds-on favourites to qualify for the Champions League, Slot’s Reds destined for the Europa League next season judging by their current trajectory.
There are very few things for Liverpool supporters to feel pleasant about this season – even Hugo Ekitike’s impressive form of 15 goals and four assists so far is cold comfort – but they will probably be most pained by the descent from champions to Europa League team.
But of course football is a highly tenuous and unpredictable outcomes-based game. Liverpool are still very close and retain what it takes to finish higher in the table, but they will have to do a lot of work to achieve it.
“[We have to be] close to perfection because of the points we are behind,” Slot said ahead of his side’s next game against Sunderland.
“We also know it is different when you are four points behind a team that is 18th or 19th in the league, because they usually don’t pick up as many points as the number three, four or five picks up.
“So to close the gap to numbers three, four and five, that means you have to win a lot and that is not what we have done a lot this season, so that is why that has to be better and that is why we have to be close to perfection.
“Margins are indeed very small because seven minutes before the end we were five points behind City and five minutes later we were 11 points behind.”
There will be pressure to win their next game but the champions face a tough test with their visit to the Stadium of Light, where Sunderland are yet to lose a game this season. In fact the Black Cats are the only team in the Premier League yet to lose a home game this season, with seven wins and five draws.
Next up, a trip to Sunderland 🔜 #SUNLIV pic.twitter.com/sBjKIhSzrb
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) February 9, 2026
A loss would certainly be an unacceptable outcome, but Slot understands that it is also hard for fans of the Liverpool persuasion to stomach a draw.
“A draw feels like a loss at this club,” Liverpool’s coach said. “That’s definitely not easy for players as well, because they know what the standards of Liverpool mean, and we are not performing to the standards of Liverpool at the moment, and they feel that disappointment.
“Mainly because we are so close every single game. Every game it feels as though we are going to win it but it doesn’t happen.
“And that is probably more difficult than when you play a game and throughout the whole game you feel like the other team is better, and you’re just not good enough.
“But that’s not what they feel. They feel performance wise that they can compete with any other team in any league in the world. But the reality is that we don’t perform to Liverpool standards.”
