“And there it is,” flashed the WhatsApp message on my phone, six minutes after it was suggested on Sunday afternoon that a threadbare Tottenham Hotspur team threatened by relegation would find an equaliser at Anfield — specifically, through the former Everton player, Richarlison.
Before that moment arrived, many inside the stadium decided they’d seen enough. There was a sense they knew what was coming and didn’t want to be around to watch it. When it did, you’d have thought a fire alarm had been sounded.
Richarlison’s goal was the eighth to lose Liverpool points late in a Premier League game this season. Without this happening, they would be just behind second-placed Manchester City and the pressure on Arne Slot would probably not be at what seems like a critical stage.
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Slot’s Liverpool have developed a really nasty habit because it creates the sort of fatalism that his predecessor Jurgen Klopp worked hard to eradicate. It also opens up questions about the mentality of the players and their fitness levels as well as the tactical instructions they are following.
Each time Liverpool have needed a goal themselves this season, it has felt like they have lost control and looked more likely to concede. This has sometimes made it look like they are not working to a clear plan, or worse, they are simply desperate.
Two 1-1 draws with opponents in the bottom five in the last eight weeks have been greeted by booing at Anfield. Spurs followed Burnley in January and each result could have been worse for Liverpool had the visiting teams taken their chances. On both occasions, Anfield’s reaction has felt like a reflection of frustration and a malaise rather than a demand for change.
There is less room for nuance on the internet, where Slot is being spoken about like he is Roy Hodgson, whose six-month reign in 2010 is the shortest of any manager in Liverpool’s history.
Most match-going Liverpool supporters I have had communication with over the last few days are, indeed, unhappy with the way things are heading and accept that a changing of the manager (or in Slot’s case, head coach) might be necessary in the summer.
A Premier League title means there is still a willingness to give Slot the benefit of the doubt and get his team, and himself, out of their slump. Yet that achievement does not inspire infinite goodwill: the same conversations have yielded comparisons with the final days of Gerard Houllier and Rafael Benitez, managers who achieved great things at Liverpool but were not able to win back a majority confidence once it was eroded.
There is a feeling that Slot has to try something different to show he has an understanding of where things are going wrong. He has done this before: after a chaotic 3-3 draw with Leeds United at Elland Road in December, Slot switched the shape of his midfield to a diamond a few days later at San Siro, where Liverpool kept a clean sheet and created enough chances to defeat Inter by more than the 1-0 scoreline.
After beating both Madrid clubs, it was another occasion in which it seemed like Liverpool might actually be rather good. Though three successive victories in the league followed, just one in five came after that in January. Such extremes have made it feel like Liverpool are going around in circles, that even after encouraging results in isolation or small batches, this is not a team or a squad to be trusted to deliver them consistently over any length of time.
It can safely be said that if Liverpool do not find a way to get past Galatasaray in the Champions League round of 16 on Wednesday, there will not be much faith knocking around for the rest of the campaign, whether inside the ground or online.
Liverpool fans’ backing for their team is not unequivocal (Carl Recine/Getty Images)
So often, Anfield is framed around its own performance on these nights, when a sense of defiance pushes backs to the wall and it seems like everyone else wants to see you fail. Yet Liverpool’s record in Champions League knock-out ties at Anfield since the famous 4-0 victory over Barcelona in 2019 has been poor, with just one victory in their last seven home legs.
On this occasion, the challenge in front of them is not of Barcelona proportions. Liverpool were poor in Istanbul last week but still could have won. Despite their problems, they are expected to progress at the expense of a side that will not be supported on Merseyside as their fans are serving a stadium ban for crowd disturbances during their recent game at Juventus. Galatasaray have conceded a stack of goals away in Europe this season, and were fortunate to emerge from the last round in extra time, despite the 5-2 thrashing of Juventus at home. In this context, if Liverpool fall behind, it might end up being a famous Anfield night for a very different reason.
After drawing with Spurs, Dominik Szoboszlai pleaded with fans to stick with the team in both the good times and the bad.
“You don’t leave when we score,” he told reporters. “I understand the frustration but we need them, we need everybody. They can be angry but stick with us because we are a family, we need you guys.”
The relationship between Anfield and its football team, however, has always been more conditional than anyone would really like to admit. Backing has usually come for a good team going through a sticky moment but fans want less to do with those who let them down on a regular basis.
They are not daft. Daft would be staying put and singing along while the world in front of you falls apart over and over again.