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Liverpool 1-4 PSV: Struggling Reds’ dismal season goes from bad to worse as defensive howlers help excellent PSV romp to victory
Richard Jollyat AnfieldWednesday 26 November 2025 22:13 GMTComments
open image in galleryLiverpool had no answers on another miserable night on Merseyside (Getty Images)
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Arne Slot’s excellence against Dutch clubs propelled him to Liverpool. Now it is a sign of how everything seems to be going wrong for Slot that even that prowess appears to have deserted him. Peter Bosz was the Dutch master of Anfield as, scarcely believably, Liverpool suffered a ninth defeat in 12 games. They did not just lose. They were hammered.
PSV Eindhoven pipped Slot’s Feyenoord to the Eredivisie title two seasons ago, beat his Liverpool in what was, for the Merseyside club, a dead-rubber in January and now defeated them again in a rather more meaningful match and with rather greater consequences. Not merely because Liverpool now look unlikely to book a top-eight finish in the Champions League’s initial phase, either.
Twelfth in the Premier League, hit for four by PSV, this is crisis time for Slot and Liverpool. The sense that they were on the road to recovery, amplified by victory over Real Madrid, has given way to three losses, with 10 goals conceded in them. For the first time in Slot’s tenure, they were breached four times at Anfield.
Boos greeted the final whistle. Unsurprisingly, too. Anfield has been breached twice in five days, first Nottingham Forest and now PSV recording famous triumphs. Liverpool contrived to be the most accommodating of hosts by making a series of errors, from the bizarre to the sadly predictable.
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Slot had said it was ridiculous the number of goals Liverpool had let in this season. Four more took the tally to 34. It is an understatement to say the latest were avoidable. There were different types of defensive shortcomings; the first almost inexplicable, the other three rather too familiar.
open image in galleryDefensive lapses condemned Liverpool to their ninth defeat in 12 (Getty Images)Liverpool’s malaise looked to have affected even an uncharacteristically jittery Virgil van Dijk. The captain had admitted Liverpool were in a mess. He compounded it with an impromptu display of goalkeeping, a raised arm tipping away Joey Veerman’s corner, to bring an early breakthrough. The centre-back argued he was pushed by his Netherlands teammate Jerdy Schouten. Referee Alejandro Hernandez disagreed and Ivan Perisic slotted in the penalty.
On a quest for redemption, Van Dijk headed Mohamed Salah’s corner on to the bar. Yet a cathartic comeback eluded him. This was the 10th time in 12 matches that Liverpool let in the opening goal. But as in some others, they pulled level only to drop behind again.
Mauro Junior escaped from Salah with rather too much ease and delivered a lovely cross. Guus Til got in ahead of Milos Kerkez to supply the finish. It was a fifth goal in three games for the Dutchman. It was yet another goal Liverpool have conceded this season via a cross to the far post. It was another, too, that they have conceded to a counter-attack.
open image in galleryGuus Til got the better of Milos Kerkez, who watched his man drift away to score (Getty Images)
open image in galleryDominik Szoboszlai was excellent in midfield again and his equaliser turned the tide - if only briefly (Liverpool FC via Getty Images)Ibrahima Konate’s mistakes have been all too frequent and he managed to miss the ball to free PSV to score the third. It came from a combination of substitutes, Ricardo Pepi hitting the post and Couhaib Driouech rolling in the rebound. There was a time when Slot’s use of replacements appeared that inspired. Now it was Bosz, with a triple change, who got an immediate reward. One of those reinforcements, Driouech, completed a brace in injury time from Serginio Dest’s cutback. Not for the first time, Liverpool had committed too many men forward.
PSV had found their net a fifth time, with Yarek Gasiorowski denied by an offside flag in the first half. It was, though, another sign Liverpool lacked solidity and stability at the back. The blunders included Curtis Jones strangely chipping the ball to Ismael Saibari in his own box. Giorgi Mamardashvili, deputising for the ill Alisson, was the rescuer then.
Dominik Szoboszlai had threatened to be when he levelled, though each only delayed further damage. Restored to a midfield role, the Hungarian popped up in the penalty area to slide in the rebound after the Eindhoven-born former PSV forward Cody Gakpo’s shot was parried. For Slot, it was at least one decision that has worked of late, with Jones the latest midfielder to take a turn at right-back.
open image in galleryA bizarre lapse in concentration by van Dijk defending a corner put Liverpool on the back foot immediately (Getty Images)
open image in galleryIvan Perisic sent Giorgi Mamardashvili the wrong way for the opener (Getty Images)Yet little else worked. Hugo Ekitike was brought back into the team and showed the sharpness Alexander Isak had conspicuously lacked against Forest. He appealed for a penalty and was twice denied by Matej Kovar, with low saves. But the Frenchman went off, seemingly injured, adding to Liverpool’s list of problems. Isak replaced him but the livelier substitute, typically, was Federico Chiesa and Gakpo came closer to an equaliser, heading over the bar.
Even as Liverpool pushed to get back into the game, many of their supporters delivered their own verdict on their chances of a comeback. Anfield was emptying even before Driouech slotted in a fourth. Just when it seemed like it could not get any worse for Slot, it did.
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