Liverpool endured a nightmare evening at Anfield as PSV Eindhoven stormed to a stunning 4-1 victory on Wednesday (26/11/2025). The defeat marks Liverpool’s third consecutive loss — following setbacks against Manchester City and Nottingham Forest — all by a margin of three goals.
The tone was set early when the referee awarded PSV a penalty after a handball decision against defender Virgil Van Dijk. Ivan Perišić coolly converted the spot-kick to give the visitors the lead.
Liverpool found a lifeline through Dominik Szoboszlai, who leveled the score, ensuring the teams went into the break tied at 1-1.
The second half began with a crushing sense of déjà vu, echoing the Forest defeat. PSV immediately regained the lead with a goal from Guus Til (56′).
Things worsened when Hugo Ekitike was forced off injured, and with 17 minutes remaining, Couhaib Driouech struck his first of the night to kill any hopes of a comeback.
Manager Arne Slot desperately tried to inject life into the attack, bringing on winger Federico Chiesa for defender Ibrahima Konaté. The attacking change, however, backfired spectacularly, as PSV’s Driouech capitalized once more to complete his brace and secure the fourth goal, beating goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot struggled to hide his disappointment:
“After half-time, we conceded the second goal quite early. After that, we still had a few good chances to make it 2-2. Then we conceded another goal ten or 15 minutes before the end. It’s hard to take. The mentality after going 1-0 down was as we wanted it to be, but it’s not always so easy after so many disappointments.”
Meanwhile, PSV coach Peter Bosz admitted his team deliberately targeted Liverpool’s fragile confidence:
“You know beforehand they have little confidence. As a coach, you have two or three days to get things set up, and then you instil confidence in your team. A goal against can change everything. With our second goal, you see the ice is thin.”
Slot on Coping with Defeats
“Long. Longer than after a win because after a win you’re straight away focused on the next one. Now you try to find answers as much as you can, but that’s not as simple as people might think. If it were that simple, I would have used those answers to start winning again.”
Slot concluded by defending his players’ commitment despite the scorelines:
“The focus is, as always, on preparing for the next game — not only tactically, but also through individual or team conversations. I put in as much effort as I can to improve the situation, and so do my staff and players. Although when you look at a 3-0 loss and a 4-1 loss, you tend to feel as if we don’t do enough. But again today, I saw a team that was trying after multiple setbacks, unfortunately not able to get a result.”
