Roy Keane hands Liverpool brutal 'crisis' verdict and agrees with Arne Slot

Roy Keane has delivered a scathing verdict on Liverpool's recent struggles and declared it's 'crisis time' for the Reds following Sunday's crushing 3-0 defeat at Manchester City. Arne Slot's side were comprehensively outclassed at the Etihad Stadium, with Erling Haaland, Nico Gonzalez and Jeremy Doku finding the net for City.

Despite squandering a penalty to put City in front in the 13th minute, Haaland eventually handed Pep Guardiola's side the advantage just before the half-hour mark, nodding a header past Reds keeper Giorgi Mamardashvili. Liverpool believed they had drawn level when Virgil van Dijk powered home Mohamed Salah's corner, but the assistant referee ruled out the goal as Andy Robertson was judged to be interfering from an offside position.

Moments later, City doubled their lead as Gonzalez's deflected effort sailed beyond a helpless Mamardashvili. Doku then sealed the victory after the interval to inflict Liverpool's seventh defeat in 10 matches.

Speaking after the match, Keane tore into the Reds and labelled them a 'weak' side. "I think it is crisis time for Liverpool," he told Sky Sports. "It's okay to lose to a club like Man City - it's a tough place to come.

"But to lose seven in ten - five league losses already - It has to be a crisis for a club like Liverpool. I thought Liverpool looked like a really weak team today. The manager said he was pleased with the second half, but the game was over! It's easy to play well when you're not playing for anything.

"I thought [Slot's] assessment of the game was spot on. City looked stronger, technically better and more physical than Liverpool today. [Liverpool] still had moments, they've always got quality, but the goals they're giving away - their decision making - was not good enough.

"There was a lack of intensity, a lack of energy. The subs, when they came on, looked really soft. I think it is a crisis for Liverpool."

Liverpool managed an expected goals (xG) of merely 0.71 during the encounter. They registered just seven attempts with only one finding the target.

Whilst the Reds recorded the highest number of big chances (2), they were outperformed in virtually every other metric. "It's been a very good start of the week with a very bad end of the week, but City away is for everyone a difficult game, including for us," Slot said in his post-match interview with Sky Sports.

"Last season we were able to win here because we scored a set-piece going 1-0 up and then we had to defend really hard afterwards.

"Today, I don't think, apart from that decision and maybe it was ever going to be our game - you would never know what would have happened after 1-1 but in general they were the better team.

"We need to improve, that's what we know, but I didn't need this game to know this. But I liked, if there's anything to like today, our second-half performance because teams that sometimes struggle, teams that go 3-0 down over here, they give up but that's not what I saw. I saw a team that was trying to come back into the game, we had moments to do so, but it wasn't enough today."

Following their defeat to City, Liverpool now find themselves languishing in eighth place in the Premier League table. After 11 matches, they've managed six victories and suffered five losses, leaving them four points behind second-place City and eight points adrift of leaders Arsenal.