In July 2012, before Liverpool's tour in the US, owner John W. Henry had an interview about the reason for sacking legend Kenny Dalglish. In the 2011-2012 season, Liverpool won the League Cup but lost narrowly to Chelsea in the FA Cup final. Worse, they finished the season in 8th place, thereby not participating in the Champions League.
Even if he wins the FA Cup, it won't make any difference. I think Liverpool fans all clearly see that something is wrong and there needs to be a change" - Henry frankly shared.
14 years have passed, FSG group led by John W. Henry is still the owner of Liverpool and this concept has not changed. Winning a Champions League ticket is The Kop's ultimate goal because it greatly affects revenue, which American owners always consider number 1.
Liverpool winning the FA Cup is not even effective, let alone the fact that they just lost miserably 0-4 to Man City in the quarter-finals. Arne Slot's team looks really weak and broken at the Etihad. The club's iconic legends such as Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah,... all played poorly. Dominik Szoboszlai lamented the lack of "fighting spirit" after the match and the most uncomfortable thing in the worst period when Liverpool collapsed was the helplessness even in the most basic things.
If you say that in Man City's 15 attacks, Liverpool did not mark them all 15 times, then I do not agree.
But if you look at the goals conceded, everyone sees the runs that are not marked, the crosses that are not blocked, the unsuccessful tackles. Every time we forget to block a cross or mark a moving player, that is a goal conceded" - Arne Slot shared.
After that defeat, Liverpool will travel to Parc des Princes to be guests against PSG in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals. The home team is the defending champion and just destroyed Chelsea in the round of 16. Looking at Liverpool's too large defensive gaps, PSG stars like Ousmane Dembele, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Desire Doue will definitely like it.
The scary thing is not Liverpool's 0-4 score against Man City. In the Jurgen Klopp era, Liverpool has had many more heavy defeats like this, but those performances have never been a symbolic image for The Kop under the hands of the German coach.
Looking at how Liverpool was destroyed by Man City, you can see that the level gap between the two teams is now too large, that is the most frightening thing. In three matches against each other since the beginning of the season, they lost with a total score of 1-9, something that never happened under Jurgen Klopp's era. This is Liverpool's 15th defeat this season in all competitions, the most since the 2014-2015 season, when Brendan Rodgers' era collapsed. That was the season that started with the sale of Luis Suarez to Barcelona and The Kop made a mistake when replacing him with incompetent contracts like Mario Balotelli and Rickie Lambert.
Saturday's defeat last week was Liverpool's heaviest defeat in nearly 2 seasons under Arne Slot, but it was the 5th time Liverpool had been defeated by a 3-goal or more margin in the 2025-2026 season.
FSG wants to give Arne Slot a chance to fix everything next season, but that will not be possible if this season's campaign completely collapses, possibly right from the match against PSG starting tomorrow night.
Now, there is only a Champions League title or nothing left. It has just helped Liverpool win their 7th European title in history, after the last time 7 years ago. It also helps The Kop naturally get straight into the qualifying round from next season, without having to worry about the current ticket race, where they are quite disadvantaged.
Can Arne Slot revive Liverpool from the ruins after their recent poor performance? Liverpool's history in the glorious European cups has countless glorious victories. With the current situation, they will need such a miracle to overcome PSG.
