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FA Cup highlights: Manchester City 4-0 Liverpool

How did it come to this? A year ago today, Liverpool fans were still basking in the glow of a Merseyside derby win that took them to the brink of the Premier League title. Defeat at Fulham a couple of days later was merely a blip and before the month was through, it was sunshine and champagne at Anfield as the league was won with a 5-1 demolition of Tottenham. Celebrations on the pitch and in the stands were long and loud, while outside the ground and across the city the party raged even longer and louder.

As fans went through the whole repertoire of songs, the name of Arne Slot was bellowed with gusto having taken on the impossible job of replacing Jurgen Klopp and then leading Liverpool to glory in his first season in charge. Nobody that day would have believed that less than 12 months on, a fanbase so united behind its team and its manager would be, at best, apathetic as to whether Slot remains in the job.

Saturday's harrowing 4-0 defeat at Manchester City in the FA Cup quarter-finals was just the latest in an ever-growing list of dismal days for Liverpool and their supporters in a season most cannot wait to see the back of. It was the 15th loss in all competitions for the Reds this term, their most in a single season since losing 18 times under Brendan Rodgers in 2014-15.

"You're getting sacked in the morning," was the chant directed at Slot by the gleeful City supporters as their side scored four goals in 20 minutes either side of half-time. While many of those who had stuck it out in the away end to hear it may have agreed with the sentiment, there remains no indication that the club are planning to get rid of Slot, either now or at the end of the season.

"It cannot always go positive and you have to stand up when things are not so positive and that's what it is about now," the Dutchman told TNT Sports.

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'Really damaging' - Murphy on Liverpool's FA Cup defeat

Slot may retain the support of his superiors at Liverpool for now but their capitulation at the Etihad means the pressure has been ramped up further before a huge Champions League quarter-final first leg at Paris St-Germain on Wednesday. The manner of the loss at City does little to inspire confidence they can avoid a similar outcome against the European champions, who so ruthlessly tore Chelsea apart in the last round.

Having started brightly and more than matched Pep Guardiola's side for the first 35 minutes, Liverpool unravelled after going behind to an Erling Haaland penalty. The Norway striker's second on the stroke of half-time effectively killed the game, and two quick goals after the break made absolutely sure.

"The fighting spirit wasn't there enough, the mentality wasn't there enough," Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai told TNT Sports. Meanwhile, Slot told BBC Sport that "there are many recurring themes" across the season. Chief among them is the seeming inability to absorb a blow and come back fighting. All too often this campaign, the slightest of setbacks has appeared to derail Liverpool when things had been going well - a far cry from the "mentality monsters" Klopp lauded during his time in charge.

"Arne Slot has to get the players to be better versions of what they are," former Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler said on TNT Sports. "You need leaders to drag people through tough times. That's what you need but we are not seeing that from the manager."

Klopp also spoke about turning fans from "doubters to believers" when he first took charge but given the mass exodus from the away end as City quickly turned 2-0 to 4-0 in the second half, there is little belief remaining for Slot's side at present.

Arne Slot has one year left on the three-year contract he signed in 2024.

After losing at Brighton two weeks ago, Liverpool and Slot would have hoped that the international break would have provided the reset required before one final push until the end of the season. The announcement that Mohamed Salah will leave in the summer, while significant, was not a surprise and had the potential to galvanise fans and players alike to give a club legend a memorable send off.

On top of that, the return of club-record signing Alexander Isak to team training after more than three months out provided another boost. But 92 minutes in Manchester quickly did for any such optimism, with the number of potential trophies that might garnish Salah's farewell swiftly halved.

Even a consolation goal was beyond them as Salah saw his second-half penalty saved - a moment Slot admitted "probably sums us up today and probably large parts of our season".

"To get embarrassed like they did today is going to stick with them," ex-Aston Villa striker Dion Dublin added on BBC Radio 5 Live.

Difficult as it is, though, Slot must find a way to rally his players before kick-off in Paris on Wednesday evening. Another abject defeat could end Liverpool's hopes of progressing even before the second leg, at which point the season would become solely about trying to scrape back into the Champions League next season.

For all the mitigation that Slot can point to for the issues this season - injury problems, a severely disrupted pre-season, an unbalanced squad and, above all, the tragic death of Diogo Jota - failure to do so would leave him extremely vulnerable.

"We have to react to this defeat and this disappointing season," he said. "There is a chance for us on Wednesday. We have shown today for only 35 minutes that we can compete.

"We can take positives from those 35 minutes but if we defend like the 20 minutes afterwards we will have a big problem. That is what we have to address."

Time is fast running out for Slot to find those solutions and salvage something from Liverpool's season. What that means for his future remains to be seen but those joyous scenes of last spring certainly seem a long time ago now.

Mohamed Salah has missed his past two penalties for Liverpool.

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