Arne Slot on Man City Challenge: “It’s a Moment to See Where We Are”

Liverpool’s 2025-26 season hasn’t had very many bright spots to date, but following up a 6-0 demolition of Qarabag in the Champions League last week with a 4-1 victory over Newcastle in the league over the weekend certainly counts. In fact, it’s hard to think of a contender for brighter.

The question now, though, as has so often been the case when there have been glimmers of hope on the pitch for Arne Slot and last year’s Premier League champions, is can they follow it up? Can they find any consistency and can a good performance or result be turned into something more lasting?

“It’s another moment for us to see where we are in the development of this team,” Slot said of the challenge of facing off against Manchester City next. “Of course we also know the importance of a result on Sunday—but that goes for all 20 teams playing this weekend in the Premier League.

“I think we have played much better than [against Newcastle], to be honest. It was a good last hour but the start wasn’t what we wanted. I liked our last hour but for me not our best. I think we have played many games of really good football, but we were not always able to be good in both boxes.”

Quibbles over whether games in which the team might have been slightly better in either the attacking or defensive phase but deficient in the other can count as fully better aside, the issue remains less about if these Reds have shown they have the talent to deliver the odd solid performance.

These are, after all, defending champions—even if sat sixth in the table as we dig into February means any chance of successfully defending that title are long, long gone. It’s about consistency. It’s about being good at both ends of the pitch. And then it’s about doing that every game, every week.

“In the last two games we’ve been good in both boxes,” Slot added. “Then people start to notice that our football might be better as well. But that football part has always been for 95 per cent of the minutes we played, for me, above an acceptable level—but in both boxes maybe not good enough.

“Now in the last two games it was and then all of a sudden there’s not only the performance, but the results look different as well.”