David Lynch: Arne Slot’s Future at Liverpool Now Under Serious Scrutiny After Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester City at Anfield, David Lynch delivered his most direct verdict yet on the uncertain future of manager Arne Slot. Speaking on Media Matters for Anfield Index, Lynch said the run of form has reached a point where questions […]

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Arne Slot Under Pressure After Liverpool’s Defeat to Manchester City  Liverpool’s latest setback against Manchester City has sharpened the conversation around expectations at Anfield. For a club that lifted the Premier League title under Arne Slot in 2024/25, the standards remain exacting, and the margin for error has narrowed as the race for Champions League […]

The post “It would be difficult to defend him” – Jamie Carragher shares thoughts on Arne Slot’s Liverpool future appeared first on anfieldindex.com.

Manchester City striker Erling Haaland admitted that he has not been at his best lately following his team's win against Liverpool on Sunday, but he is determined to improve

Simon Bajkowski Chief Manchester City Writer

19:14, 09 Feb 2026

Erling Haaland scored and provided an assist on Sunday(Image: Getty Images)

Erling Haaland has conceded that his recent performances have been subpar, but he's issued a warning to Manchester City's rivals that he's ready to deliver "what everyone deserves and expects" from him.

Haaland is not making any excuses for his recent form, but he did score the decisive goal in City's 2-1 victory at Anfield on Sunday, helping his team stage a late comeback against Liverpool. He also assisted Bernardo Silva's equalizer, allowing the visiting fans to celebrate their first win at the ground since 2003 and propelling the Blues back into the title race.

City has won at Anfield in the meantime, but it was during the coronavirus pandemic when fans were not allowed inside the stadium.

READ MORE: Virgil van Dijk disagrees with Arne Slot as Liverpool boss fumes after Man City defeatREAD MORE: Liverpool injury latest and possible return dates including Joe Gomez before Sunderland game

With 21 Premier League goals this season, Haaland is four ahead of Brentford's Igor Thiago in the Golden Boot race.

However, it's been nine league matches since he last found the net from open play.

There's been speculation that the Norwegian, who has had a demanding schedule over the past six months with both City and his national team, who are preparing for next summer's World Cup, might be feeling the strain.

Haaland hit City's winner(Image: Getty Images)

This wasn't helped by Omar Marmoush's absence due to his participation in the Africa Cup of Nations during the busiest part of the season.

However, Haaland has dismissed fatigue as an explanation for his recent form and is focusing on self-improvement - and pushing City closer to league leaders Arsenal.

"I haven't scored enough goals since the start of this year, you can say, and I know that I need to improve," said the 25-year-old.

"I know I need to be more sharp, better at all of this and this is something that I have to work on.

"I have to keep going because this is what everyone deserves and expects.

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"I don't want to speak about why I haven't performed. I don't think there's any excuse. Fatigue is a lot is in the head. It's a lot of games.

"Look at the schedule, it's not easy, and for me, it's about staying fit, don't get injured.

"That's the most important thing. And try to be ready to help the team."

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Another crushing defeat at Anfield dredges up the same old problems as Liverpool lose 2-1 to Manchester City

Another crushing defeat at Anfield dredges up the same old problems as Liverpool lose 2-1 to Manchester City

David Lynch Praises Szoboszlai but Fears for His Liverpool Future Following Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester City at Anfield, journalist David Lynch highlighted Dominik Szoboszlai’s standout performance, but admitted growing concern over the Hungarian midfielder’s future at the club. Speaking on Media Matters for Anfield Index, Lynch said, “He’s been brilliant all season and fair […]

The post Journalist: Liverpool facing another ‘worrying’ contract dilemma appeared first on anfieldindex.com.

Liverpool Target Konstantinos Koulierakis as Wolfsburg Brace for Summer Interest Liverpool are assessing defensive options ahead of the summer window, with Konstantinos Koulierakis emerging once again as a prominent name under consideration. The Merseyside club’s recruitment team continue to monitor the 22-year-old as they plan for potential changes at centre back, particularly with contract situations […]

The post Report: Liverpool have joined the race to sign talented Bundesliga star appeared first on anfieldindex.com.

With Liverpool closer in points to 18th place than Arsenal in first, the time is now for hard conversations at the club.

In the end it somehow felt like more than a defeat. The defeat to Man City meant Liverpool ended the weekend 17 points behind leaders Arsenal and 16 above West Ham who occupy 18th place in the Premier League.

There was a strange sensation prior to kick-off as Man City arrived at Anfield; victory for the Reds would have pushed Arsenal into clear water at the top and dealt a hammer blow to the title race, one that defending champions Liverpool certainly have not been part of for quite some time.

For all the wayward form and pitiful results this season, it has still been clear that the Reds can match an opponent blow for blow once confidence is surging.

Liverpool are a far cry from the dominant juggernaut we saw last year, but there is still a big occasion performance in this current team and it’s the main reason why so many of us hold quiet aspirations surrounding the Champions League run.

But then Liverpool folded, City exposed their absence of courage and the panic mechanism triggered again. It felt like more than a loss because it was a big rival, at home, in a clash Liverpool had worked hard to get back into following a resurgence period at the start of the second half.

Pep Guardiola and Man City don’t win at Anfield, except now they do.

Now is the time for hard conversations at Liverpool

Liverpool have six Premier League wins since September. Level with Brentford at present, closer to 18th place than first.

There are 13 fixtures left to play with 39 points on offer. Currently Arne Slot‘s side sit four points adrift of Man United in fourth, and of the 13 remaining matches the Reds have to face United, Everton and Aston Villa away, with a Chelsea meeting also on the horizon.

A trip to Nottingham Forest still has to be made, likely with much trepidation given how Sean Dyche’s side made a mockery at Anfield. Add to the mix another Crystal Palace match, also known as the side Liverpool can’t lay a glove on this season.

When Dominik Szoboszlai defied physics and lashed a free-kick home from about a million miles out, there was an optimism that Liverpool would get the City result over the line.

Had they been the better team? Not really, but tails were up, Anfield was loud and Slot’s system was holding its own.

It felt like the sort of match Liverpool would get a major scalp from, before going back to fretting over menial yet troublesome fixtures on the horizon.

That momentary safety blanket has now been pulled. Guardiola’s late demolition job has done Liverpool a favour in a strange way, or it ought to. This has to be the slap-yourself-back-to-reality moment whereby hard conversations are had. There’s no time now for social media posts about how ‘we’ll all do better and keep sticking together’ now, lads.

The clock really is ticking, a few more limp defeats mixed in with tiresome draws and Liverpool are done – no Champions League place finish. For a team who won the title last summer and spent £446 million improving that beast, it’s simply unacceptable.

Remember, though, this is a transitional season

There has to be an appreciation for this season being one of transition, to bed in the new additions and sculpt a new ethos, bullet proofing the new era for sustained future success. I can buy that and so can the vast majority of decent supporters, reluctantly or otherwise.

This Liverpool squad saw very established and well-liked personnel leave in the form of Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez, while the tragic loss of Diogo Jota will cut deep at the club well into the future. Being edged out by a momentum-heavy Arsenal and a recently rebuilt Man City would have been expected this season, albeit frustrating, but Liverpool are now free-falling to the nth degree.

Liverpool could finish the season sharing company with Brentford and Everton, widely adrift of a Man United side who have sacked yet another manager and a Chelsea team now representing a weird multi-million LinkedIn project.

Liverpool Premier League Form Guide
Fixture Result Score Match Rating Man City (H) L 1-2 6.7 Newcastle (H) W 4-1 7.8 Bournemouth (A) L 3-2 6.6 Burnley (H) D 1-1 7.2 Arsenal (A) D 0-0 7.2 Fulham (A) D 2-2 6.8 Leeds (A) D 2-2 6.9

* Performance data via FotMob.

If the signs were there that Liverpool were re-designing and presenting an image of what the football of tomorrow would look like, fine. It’s fair to say everyone would get on board with that.

The manager isn’t short of credit in the bank, his delivering of Liverpool’s second-only Premier League title in his debut season in English football means his place in Anfield history is already immortalised. Slot is a decent man with a great football brain and an endless passion for the sport, but the obvious alarm bell now is the absence of any consistent rationale.

Fine margins today; big margins across a full season

Football is a game of very fine margins. At 1-1 on Sunday, with 86 minutes on the clock, Liverpool sparked a quick counter on City with substitute Curtis Jones missing the decisive through-ball to send Mohamed Salah clear down the wing and likely triggering a two-on-one.

Curtis Jones failed to put through Mo Salah with the score locked at 1-1

Moments later, Liverpool concede the hammer blow second goal. Looking back over the footage you’ll see Jones and Alexis Mac Allister in a breakdown of communication, allowing Matheus Nunes to slip through and bear down on Alisson for the foul.

Seconds after conceding Jones would then find himself at left back, to rapidly replace Milos Kerkez who was hauled off for the Federico Chiesa ‘Hail Mary’ substitution.

This isn’t to apportion blame to any specific players, but rather serving to highlight a system and a string of habits which have become so deeply ingrained that Liverpool are stuck firmly in a period of stasis.

If I saw this at u10 level I'd be tearing my hair out.

Neither Jones or Mac Allister communicate to manage the run right beside them.

They know it's there, but neither are diligent enough to take responsibility to manage it.

Blaming Alisson is missing the point entirely.

? pic.twitter.com/ryzLMfRwzZ

— EBL (@EBL2017) February 9, 2026

No control and no identity

Everything is reactionary and control is absent. Liverpool can match their superior opponents in phases but won’t guide them into a corner and punch them black and blue as they did last season.

Wins over Real Madrid and Inter Milan have handed the Reds some major kudos this season, but City’s reality check has now planted the warning seed that the Champions League knock-out stage could be snuffed out in much the same manner.

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The time for hedging bets is well and truly over. By now, with six months of the campaign gone, Liverpool should have implemented some basic blueprint of identity and a recognised means of winning games.

They haven’t done so, and now have 13 Premier League fixtures to get it right while pushing for the latter stages of European competition.

If they fail on both fronts it feels fairly certain the manager’s position will no longer be tenable.

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Liverpool 1 – 2 Manchester City – Premier League Postmortem After a week that hinted at revival and momentum, Liverpool were brought sharply back to reality under the Anfield lights. This was not a collapse born of chaos or cowardice, but one of hesitation, poor game management, and a familiar inability to close out matches […]

The post Final Thoughts: Liverpool’s Champions League hopes crushed by Man City appeared first on anfieldindex.com.

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Liverpool 1 – 2 Manchester City – Premier League Postmortem After a week that hinted at revival and momentum, Liverpool were brought sharply back to reality under the Anfield lights. This was not a collapse born of chaos or cowardice, but one of hesitation, poor game management, and a familiar inability to close out matches […]

The post Final Thoughts: Liverpool’s Champions League hopes crushed by Man City appeared first on anfieldindex.com.

Former Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold returned from injury as a substitute in Real Madrid's 2-0 win over Valencia while Dani Carvajal was left out of the squad

Former Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold returned from injury as a substitute in Real Madrid's 2-0 win over Valencia while Dani Carvajal was left out of the squad

Ryan Gravenberch has called for Premier League referees “to be consistent” while, elsewhere, Jeremy Jacquet‘s manager has been sacked.

Ryan Gravenberch calls on Premier League referees “to be consistent”

Liverpool’s season has been defined by small issues and tight margins adding together to create a larger, much more widespread problem.

While a draw would have been arguably the most fair result on Sunday, the Reds ended up losing by one goal, and a red card for Man City in the second half could have made a massive difference.

With 69 minutes played, Mo Salah thought he was through on goal, only to be pulled back by Marc Guehi on the edge of the box.

The resultant free-kick was correctly awarded, given the contact appeared to cease before Salah entered the penalty area, but the Reds were left frustrated at Guehi only being booked despite seemingly denying a clear goalscoring opportunity.

This offence should warrant a red card and after the match, Gravenberch asked for greater consistency when talking about the decision.

“Some decision is not always in our favour,” the Dutch midfielder told Stan Sport.

“We could get the one (a penalty) with Mo. It’s difficult. Sometimes they say the Premier League is the best league in the world, but then the refs have to be consistent as well and I don’t think he was today.”

Arne Slot also believed Guehi should have been sent off, saying: “My main frustration is in the shirt-pull of Mo Salah at 0-0, clear and open, one-v-one to the goalkeeper.”

This was definitely a case of ‘if it had been given, it wouldn’t have been overturned’.

Read more here

Today’s Liverpool FC News

• It is a “possibility” that Jacquet will require surgery, report L’Equipe, after suffering a shoulder injury at the weekend – not a good time for Rennes who sacked coach Habib Beye on Monday

• Guehi has reacted to him being booed at Anfield by saying he’s “not sure why” he received the criticism – probably more a case of the fans trying to create an atmosphere than anything too personal!

• Liverpool Women won their second league game of the season on Sunday, beating Aston Villa 4-1 at home to lift themselves off the bottom of the WSL, albeit having played a game more than Leicester who are now below them

More from This Is Anfield

With Liverpool now equalling the Premier League era record for most injury-time winners conceded in a season (four), Sam Millne took a look at why the Reds continue to succumb to late pressure:

“Liverpool’s new signings are clearly struggling to maintain the fitness required to perform at a top level for 90 minutes, with it painfully obvious that the likes of Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike aren’t the pressing animals of their predecessors.

“Combine these problems with some of Liverpool’s senior figures having inexplicable moments of madness – see Alisson‘s penalty conceded on Sunday – and it is going to culminate in a team that is unable to see games out.”

Elsewhere in the football world

• Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has revealed how Celtic fan Andy Robertson was texting him “every couple of hours” to check up on his transfer to the Scottish champions which was confirmed on Sunday

• Edward Still, the brother of Will Still, has been appointed Watford manager – he is is their 14th manager, not including interim coaches, since September 2019!

• Eddie Howe has said that he would resign if he ever felt he wasn’t “the correct man to take the team forward” – Newcastle have lost four of their last five matches

Liverpool FC: On this day

While he mightn’t be in the best mood following Sunday’s defeat, we’re still wishing a happy birthday to Wataru Endo who turns 33 years old on February 9.

The defensive midfielder has started just two matches this season but is still expected to captain his country at this summer’s World Cup.

Often underrated during his time at Liverpool, it is worth remembering some of the stellar performances he has put in since arriving in 2023.

Such was his performance in the 2024 Carabao Cup final, this writer even remembers calling for him to be awarded the Freedom of the City of Liverpool – tongue in cheek, of course!

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In the first part of his weekly column, John Aldridge reflects on Liverpool's defeat against Manchester City and a potential new role for Dominik Szoboszlai

In the first part of his weekly column, John Aldridge reflects on Liverpool's defeat against Manchester City and a potential new role for Dominik Szoboszlai

Liverpool’s Anfield Defeat to Man City: Brutal Reality Check for Arne Slot’s Side In the latest episode of Media Matters on Anfield Index, David Lynch joined Dave Davis to reflect on Liverpool’s painful 2-1 defeat to Manchester City at Anfield. The result leaves Liverpool sixth in the Premier League and, as Lynch bluntly put it, […]

The post David Lynch: Liverpool’s collapse against Man City was ‘inevitable’ appeared first on anfieldindex.com.

In the latest episode of Media Matters on Anfield Index, David Lynch joined Dave Davis to reflect on Liverpool’s painful 2-1 defeat to Manchester City at Anfield. The result leaves Liverpool sixth in the Premier League and, as Lynch bluntly put it, “it will take a miracle from here to be honest.”

With their Champions League ambitions hanging by a thread, Lynch did not sugarcoat his analysis: “Liverpool have lost to worse teams this season but this was truly a dreadful day.” He highlighted the statistical domination by City, noting, “City were without doubt over the 100 minutes the far better side in an Anfield game where Liverpool needed to win it.”

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No redemption in defeat

Despite Liverpool taking the lead, Lynch stressed that a strong 35-minute spell wasn’t enough. “You can’t come away from an Anfield game having played well for half an hour of it and go, ‘God, we had hard lines there.’” He added, “The collapse kind of felt inevitable,” especially when City’s expected goals and shot count far outstripped Liverpool’s.

Lynch was critical of the overall mentality and tactical discipline. “This is not a flash in the pan or a poor patch. It’s been pretty consistently awful for a number of games now,” he said, pointing to an alarming trend of late goals conceded. “They’ve kind of dropped eight points in the 90th minute plus, basically.”

Misfiring leadership and tactical flaws

The discussion turned to Arne Slot’s tactics and Liverpool’s sluggish first halves. “How poor is your pre-match messaging that that tactical plan worked to justify your selection in some sense, but your players were not executing it in the first half?” Lynch asked, questioning the quality of analysis and preparation.

He was equally unimpressed with post-match rhetoric, including Virgil van Dijk’s comments about the team being in “transition.” Lynch was clear: “I’m absolutely fine with accepting this as a transition season, but I think the floor for Liverpool in a transition season should still be top four.”

Photo: IMAGO Bright spots and off-field shadows

One consistent positive Lynch acknowledged was Dominik Szoboszlai, who continues to impress. “He’s been brilliant all season. His work rate we know about, the quality’s starting to show, and the danger from free kicks is massive,” Lynch said. He also praised Milos Kerkez’s performance, calling him “a really good player” who brought “the right kind of intensity.”

However, hope was dampened by concerning signs off the pitch. Lynch highlighted uncertainty surrounding Curtis Jones, pointing out Slot’s lack of enthusiasm about keeping him. “He missed an open goal there in terms of saying he wants him to stay,” Lynch remarked. “It’s truly depressing.”

A club adrift with no signs of turnaround

As the episode closed, Lynch didn’t hide his pessimism. “There’s no chance that Liverpool get in the Champions League this season,” he said. Referencing the Premier League form table, he added, “Over the last 20 games, they’ve picked up 24 points… that’s six wins, six draws, eight defeats. Fulham, Brighton, Newcastle, Sunderland, Everton, Brentford… all these sides have picked up more points.”

Slot’s record came under direct fire too: “Roy Hodgson had 25 points in 20 games. Slot’s sitting on 24. He’s got a far better squad. How is it this bad?”

Even the club hierarchy came under scrutiny. Lynch challenged the direction under Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes: “I don’t think Richard Hughes and Michael Edwards are immune from criticism… but this squad is better than it’s showing.”

In what might be the most damning statement of all, Lynch concluded: “If they get to the end of the season and this form is continued, the call has got to be to make a change to the manager. It just has to be.”

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Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has criticised Dominik Szoboszlai following the midfielder's red card against Manchester City

Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has criticised Dominik Szoboszlai following the midfielder's red card against Manchester City

David Lynch: Arne Slot “Missed an Open Goal” on Curtis Jones Future In a revealing moment during Media Matters on Anfield Index, journalist David Lynch strongly criticised Arne Slot’s handling of Curtis Jones, calling the manager’s lack of public backing a clear misstep. With the Liverpool midfielder entering the final year of his contract and […]

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