Leeds 3 – 3 Liverpool – Premier League Postmortem
After the psychological bruising of recent weeks, Liverpool arrived at Elland Road needing not just a win, but clarity. This performance hinted at recovery, identity, and a pathway back toward competence. What they delivered instead was another maddening concoction of brilliance and frailty, a 3–3 draw that encapsulated the wider collapse of this season. For yet another league match, Liverpool surrendered control, lost their structure, and produced a finale that made it impossible to defend or justify the continuation of Arne Slot’s tenure beyond this weekend.
Some basic facts:
• 2 league wins since September 20th
• 4 wins in 15 (all comps)
• Failed to score in first half in 10 of 15 league games
• Thrown away 2-goal lead four times this season
• 15 wins in the last 33 games (all comps)— This Is Anfield (@thisisanfield) December 6, 2025
The Starting Eleven
Liverpool XI
• GK – Alisson Becker
• RB – Joe Gomez
• CB – Ibrahima Konaté
• CB – Virgil van Dijk (c)
• LB – Milos Kerkez
• CM – Curtis Jones
• CM – Ryan Gravenberch
• CM – Dominik Szoboszlai
• RW – Florian Wirtz
• CF – Alexander Isak
• LW – Cody Gakpo
Substitutes
Alexis Mac Allister → Alexander Isak (67’)
Joe Gomez → Florian Wirtz (67’)
Hugo Ekitike → Cody Gakpo (83’)
Wataru Endō → Cody Gakpo (83’)
Goals
Leeds 0–1 Liverpool – Hugo Ekitike – 48’
Leeds 0–2 Liverpool – Hugo Ekitike (Conor Bradley) – 50’
Leeds 1–2 Liverpool – Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Penalty) – 73’
Leeds 2–2 Liverpool – Anton Stach (Brendan Aaronson) – 75’
Leeds 2–3 Liverpool – Dominik Szoboszlai (Ryan Gravenberch) – 80’
Leeds 3–3 Liverpool – Ao Tanaka – 90+6’
Match Statistics
• Possession – Leeds 45% | Liverpool 55%
• XG – Leeds 1.51 | Liverpool 1.91
• Total Shots – Leeds 12 | Liverpool 16
• Fouls – Leeds 14 | Liverpool 14
• Corners – Leeds 5 | Liverpool 4
• Saves – Leeds 4 | Liverpool 2
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First Half
An anxious away end watched Liverpool begin with a familiar lack of tempo, cohesion, or purpose. The build-up was predictable, transitions slow, and pressing disjointed — a pattern that has become the defining look of Slot’s Liverpool. Leeds were industrious rather than incisive, but Liverpool’s lethargy allowed the home side to grow into the game without ever being truly threatened. The Reds staggered their way to half-time with more possession but little conviction, the performance mirroring their season: hollow numbers masking structural disorder. Cody Gakpo refused to incorporate anyone outside himself whilst a record-breaking Egyptian sat on the bench, considering his post-match words.
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Second Half
The restart brought something Liverpool desperately needed: life. Hugo Ekitike struck twice in two minutes — sharp, direct, decisive — giving the Reds a platform to seize control. Yet instead of stepping on Leeds’ throat, Liverpool wilted again. Konaté’s reckless penalty concession reignited Leeds, and within moments the game had unravelled.
Even Szoboszlai’s wonderful driven finish, a future captain’s goal if ever there was one, couldn’t rescue Liverpool from themselves. Deep into stoppage time, yet another untracked runner punished Liverpool’s cowardly retreat, with Tanaka sweeping home a heartbreaking and humiliating equaliser.
“Steven Gerrard is under serious consideration to take over as interim manager if Arne Slot was to be sacked.” pic.twitter.com/rE9cfcc4GO
— 🅘 (@LFCApproved) December 6, 2025
Final Thoughts
This was the clearest evidence yet that Arne Slot has lost the team. A side capable of carving open Leeds at will simultaneously collapsed at every moment of adversity — a psychological fragility that now feels terminal. The spacing in midfield, the chaotic defensive line, the absence of leadership, the passive substitutions, and the team’s total inability to manage periods of pressure all point to a manager who no longer has control of the football or the dressing room.
Slot may be intelligent, principled, and diligent, but this version of Liverpool cannot continue under him. His ideas are not landing and the players look devoid of confidence when even the slightest pressure comes. His changes are not working and there is little in the way of merit. His team is not responding and they seem to have lost the will to fight for his job. Every week the same patterns repeat, the same frailties reappear, and the same question grows louder:
How much longer can this be allowed to drift?
Liverpool’s season is slipping toward irrelevance, and in truth, decisive action is now overdue. A change must come — this weekend, not the next.
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Steven Smith’s Score Prediction:
Leeds 1 – 2 Liverpool
