On the face of it, Manchester City’s 4-0 victory over Liverpool was emphatic. But the frustration for Liverpool fans is that fine margins and small mistakes — not pure bad luck — are repeatedly costing the team. Arne Slot pointed to misfortune after the FA Cup quarter-final at the Etihad, but the problems go beyond that.
Expected-goals models rated the match roughly 2.44 to 1.46 in City’s favour, yet possession was shared and both sides had 11 shots. The difference was attention to detail. Repeated lapses in simple actions are undermining Liverpool’s efforts and suggest a broader decline in standards this season.
Slot underlined one of those details in his post-match comments. “After they scored the 1-0 we were still in the game but then we had a throw-in,” he said. “Twice we conceded when we had a throw-in. And they go so fast, in those moments you have to defend sharper.” He could diagnose what happened but struggled to explain how to fix it — a worrying sign when the issue is so basic.
Liverpool were among the first Premier League teams to focus on set plays from throw-ins, hiring Thomas Gronnemark as a specialist. Yet Gronnemark has expressed bafflement at what he’s seen since leaving the club, including a performance at Wembley last August where Liverpool looked unrecognisable with throw-ins. He noted that Liverpool’s possession from throw-ins under pressure had dropped to around 33.3 percent — alarmingly low for an area they once dominated.
The consequences were clear against City. A routine sequence began with Joe Gomez throwing to Marc Guehi, who played to Nico O’Reilly. O’Reilly quickly turned and found Rayan Cherki in space, 35 yards from Liverpool’s goal. Cherki, City’s most creative influence in the game, fed Antoine Semenyo for a finish that epitomised how a simple turnover from a throw-in can lead to a goal against. Klopp often lauded gegenpressing as the ultimate defensive playmaker; in this match, City’s incisive transition from throw-in vulnerability performed a similar destructive role.
Gronnemark criticised the players’ inability to recreate the spacing and movements that make throws effective. “They don’t understand how to create space,” he said. “When they try to run one time and it doesn’t work, the players don’t know what to do. They don’t know where to throw, the players don’t know how to create space again.” The personnel taking throw-ins have changed since his tenure, and lessons that once lifted Liverpool from 18th to first for throw-ins under pressure appear to have eroded.
Ironically, Gronnemark was hired by another Premier League club — Arsenal — a side whose season-long consistency is often credited to meticulous attention to detail rather than sheer squad superiority. That contrast highlights the issue at Liverpool: some problems stem from factors beyond Slot’s control — off-field turmoil, a significant squad overhaul, ageing legends and injury crises — but others are micro-level details he can influence.
A throw-in may seem trivial, but it contributed directly to Liverpool’s heaviest defeat under Slot and feels emblematic of wider shortcomings. Small, repeatable errors add up; when they involve basic procedures teams once perfected, they become a clearer symptom of slipping standards rather than isolated misfortune.