Liverpool’s trip to Germany on Thursday night has taken on historic significance for all the wrong reasons.
Should the Reds fall to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League, it would mark the club’s first five-game losing streak since 1953, a run that would set an unwanted record spanning 72 years.
Still third in the Premier League, it’s not yet time for drastic action but the pressure is mounting on Arne Slot.
Manchester United continued a rare and unwanted Liverpool losing streak
Arne Slot’s side have already lost four consecutive matches in all competitions. It’s a sequence that began with the 2–1 defeat to Crystal Palace and has since included losses to Galatasaray, Chelsea and Manchester United.
It’s Liverpool’s worst run since November 2014, when Brendan Rodgers oversaw four straight defeats during a turbulent period at Anfield.
But if the Reds are beaten again in Frankfurt, they’ll enter territory not seen since August–September 1953, when Don Welsh’s Liverpool lost five consecutive matches in the old First Division.
That campaign ended in relegation and was the last time Liverpool dropped out of the top flight.
The numbers behind the slump
For context, Liverpool have only lost four or more consecutive games nine times in their entire history. The last time it reached five, rationing had barely ended, the Beatles didn’t exist, and Bill Shankly was still a player.
The current run has included defensive lapses, injuries to key players like Virgil van Dijk and Dominik Szoboszlai, and a worrying lack of control in midfield. These are issues Slot urgently needs to solve if he’s to avoid unwanted comparisons with Liverpool’s darker eras.
An increasingly ignored factor in this strange slump in Liverpool form is the tragic death of Diogo Jota which will be the hardest challenge for the players to deal with this season.
Pressure rising on Arne Slot
Slot’s start at Anfield had promised a smooth transition from the Jürgen Klopp era, but this run has quickly tested both his tactics and temperament.
Defeat in Frankfurt wouldn’t just dent Liverpool’s Champions League campaign, but it would formally equal the club’s post-war record for consecutive defeats, a statistic that would inevitably ramp up external pressure on the Dutchman.
For all the gloom, there remains an opportunity to turn the tide.
A positive result in Germany could reset the tone of the season and restore belief in Slot’s project.
But the stakes are clear: lose again, and Liverpool will match a losing streak that has stood unbroken for over seven decades. The difference between recovery and infamy may well come down to 90 minutes in Frankfurt.
