Ian Doyle with the main talking point as Liverpool and Arne Slot suffered a new low with pathetic Champions League defeat at home to PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday evening
Enough is enough. And as the Liverpool players trudged disconsolately from the Anfield turf after an utterly abject second-half humiliation, that there were so few home supporters remaining inside suggested the general consensus is likewise.
The applause for the hurting players was polite. While there was a murmur of jeers at the final whistle, there was no major show of dissent from the fanbase.
But every single person who witnessed this embarrassing horror show will surely now have the same thought. Liverpool boss Arne Slot is standing on the precipice.
While the suffering Kop’s rendition of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” in the 90th minute was perfunctory at most, it was still less half-hearted than the Reds’ woeful showing after the break.
Liverpool lacked belief, confidence, organisation and quality. But it was the absence of heart and fight – with some honourable exceptions – that was the most alarming aspect of a dreadful, dreadful, dreadful evening.
It was almost as though they didn’t want to know, the towel too easily thrown in.
Enough is enough. You can lose at Crystal Palace, Chelsea and Galatasaray. You can lose at home to Manchester United. Hey, you can even lose at Brentford. And you can definitely lose at Manchester City.
But you can’t surrender the League Cup by throwing out an effective reserve team at home to Palace. You can’t lose 3-0 at home to a Nottingham Forest side managed by Sean Dyche.
And you absolutely cannot be humbled in such meek fashion on your own patch by a PSV Eindhoven side who, with the greatest respect, will be nowhere near the business end of the Champions League this season.
A joint-heaviest home European defeat, it was a ninth loss in 12 in all competitions for the Reds. Almost all have been deserved.
This latest pathetic effort represents the low point of a tortuous campaign for a Liverpool side for whom Premier League title celebrations earlier in the year are a distant memory.
That team has long gone. And the one that has replaced it is not good enough. Nowhere near good enough. Not even close.
If there was an inclination that, in terms of Slot’s future, this game would make little difference given the Premier League triumvirate against West Ham United, Sunderland and Leeds United that awaits next week, the sheer awfulness of this display makes it simply impossible to ignore.
Yes, Slot has been dealt a difficult hand this season with so many circumstances conspiring against the Dutchman, some of which no amount of experience could prepare him for.
But this didn’t appear a team that was willing to scrap for their head coach or each other. For his own good, the Liverpool boss now has to either wield the axe or come up with a new gameplan. Sticking with this would be a needless act of self-harm.
He needs a reaction. He needs to see the squad are with him. And, above all else, he needs to win. There is no more wriggle room, no more benefit of doubt.
Enough is enough. Slot may well have next week to keep his job.
