Liverpool 1 PSV 4 – Are Arne Slot’s side at risk of not qualifying? Is conceding first an issue? – The New York Times

UCL
Champions
League Drama
Liverpool fell to a 4-1 defeat by PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday night Peter Byrne – PA Images via Getty Images
Liverpool fell to a shock 4-1 loss to PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday night to make it three defeats in a row.
After a handball by Virgil van Dijk, Ivan Perisic scored a sixth-minute penalty to put PSV Eindhoven ahead. But the hosts levelled in the 16th minute after Cody Gakpo dribbled down the left before cutting inside on his right foot. His shot was saved, but the ball fell to Dominik Szoboszlai, who fired home to level the game.
Advertisement
The score stayed the same until the 56th minute. Mauro Junior played an exceptional left-footed ball into the path of Guus Til, who struck past Giorgi Mamardashvili to put PSV ahead again. They doubled their advantage in the 73rd minute as Couhaib Driouech latched onto a rebounded shot to hit his side’s third goal. And then Driouech hit his second from the edge of the box in added time to wrap up the win.
The Athletic’s Gregg Evans analyses the key talking points from the game below.

It’s still early days with three games remaining, but the next two Champions League fixtures appear to be much tougher than the one Liverpool just faced.
Travelling to Inter Milan to take on last season’s runners-up will be a stern test, as will the following away trip to a resurgent Marseille. Liverpool are just three points above Union Saint-Gilloise, who are 25th in the table, the mark at which teams do not advance to the next stage of the Champions League.
Fortunately for Liverpool, they have what appears to be a relatively straightforward final game at home to Qarabag, which they might just need to win if the other games don’t go to plan. In this run of form, though, it’s hard to predict.
The hope, after topping the league phase last season, was to use some of the later games in the schedule to introduce the club’s top youngsters for more minutes. Having the option to rest key senior players during a hectic period would have also helped, but all that is on hold for now.
Liverpool need to get their act together in the final three games to finish in the top eight and avoid a play-off. They’re still well-positioned to qualify with it all in their own hands, but the pressure is building to get out of this mess and save their season.
Liverpool’s major problem of conceding first continued as they fell behind after just five minutes. The out-of-form team have struggled over the past two months to take control in games and have conceded first in 10 of the last 12 outings.
Advertisement
Like so often of late, the first goal was conceded through a set piece as Van Dijk gave away a penalty after handling in the area as Liverpool were defending a corner.
Perisic calmly tucked away the spot kick and yet again Liverpool were left chasing a game after a sloppy start.
Last season, slow starts were not so much of a problem because Slot’s side were regularly able to recover by outscoring their opponents. Liverpool recovered the most points from losing positions in the Premier League en route to winning the title, but repeating that has been difficult so far in this campaign.
They have only won one game after going behind this season — away at Eintracht Frankfurt. That did not change on Wednesday night.
The crisis at Liverpool is deepening with no obvious way out of this mess, and now the wheels are falling off at Anfield.
In times of struggle, the Liverpool's famous home has often remained a fortress, but teams are now turning up, both in the Premier League and Champions League, and finding it easy.
So humiliating was it for Liverpool that the travelling PSV supporters started chanting “always look on the bright side of life” in the closing stages of the game.
The Kop reacted with a half-soaked rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone' but by that time the game was over, and the pain of another defeat was setting in.
For the second time in the space of five days, Liverpool conceded at least three goals and lost at the venue where they used to be so formidable. They have now conceded three-plus goals in their last three games (both home and away) for the first time since 1992.
The dreadful run of form now stands at eight defeats in 12 games in all competitions, and for the second game running, thousands of supporters were seen heading for the exits early.
Advertisement
Boos echoed around the stadium on full-time, but those who remained sang in support, albeit through clear pain and frustration after another embarrassing night.
He told TNT Sports: "The emotions are very negative and disappointing. The way we conceded the 1-0… I want to be positive about the reactions of the players after we went 1-0 down. Until half-time, we played a very good game. After another disappointment, we came back into the game. We had chances to go 2-1 up.
"At half-time, I don’t think anyone would have expected us to lose this game 4-1."
Sunday, November 30: West Ham (Away), Premier League, 2.05pm UK, 9.05am ET
Spot the pattern. Connect the terms
Find the hidden link between sports terms
Play today's puzzle
Gregg Evans is a Staff Writer for The Athletic covering Liverpool. Previously he reported on Aston Villa and spent over a decade at the Birmingham Mail covering West Midlands football. His time with Villa included the drop into the Championship and then an incredible return to European football. He also covers golf. Follow Gregg on Twitter @greggevans40

source