Soccer-Slot says leaky Liverpool conceding late goals no longer a surprise


Soccer Football - Premier League - Fulham v Liverpool - Craven Cottage, London, Britain - January 4, 2026 Liverpool manager Arne Slot reacts after the match REUTERS/David Klein

LONDON, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Liverpool ‌boss Arne Slot was left once again to rue his side dropping points to late ‌goals after a hectic 2-2 draw at Fulham thanks to Harrison Reed's last-gasp wonder strike.

Cody ‌Gakpo thought he had snatched all three points for Liverpool in the 94th minute, but the Dutch forward had barely sat down on the substitutes' bench when Reed found the top corner with a stunning goal to make it all square.

Slot said ‍that, in ordinary circumstances, most people would expect Liverpool to close ‍out the game having taken the lead ‌so late on.

But, having conceded late winners at Crystal Palace and Chelsea in back-to-back league games in ‍October ​and an added-time equaliser at Leeds United last month, Slot said it was now less of a shock to him.

"I think if you are not part of Liverpool and you don't ⁠follow us every game, then you think you win it (with Gakpo's ‌goal)," he told reporters. "But unfortunately I'm experiencing this for months now.

"The first chance the other team gets – and the only chance ⁠they got in ‍the first half – led to a goal. And that's one thing we usually see with us.

"And the second thing we see a lot is that the other team scores a goal you don't expect in extra time."

Liverpool were ‍without top scorer Hugo Ekitike, who Slot said had travelled ‌to London with the squad but was deemed unfit to feature after receiving the results of an MRI scan, and record signing Alexander Isak.

Gakpo started as a centre forward and scored what could have been the winner, having also had the ball in the net shortly after halftime when offside, though he looked unconvincing and Liverpool were markedly less threatening in Ekitike's absence.

Slot will have few sympathisers having spent lavishly on new signings in the summer, but said his side created as many chances as could be expected given ‌his lack of attacking options.

"I would love to create more, but if you play with the amount of midfielders we play in with one attacker against (the) 5-4-1 of Fulham in an away game, I don't know if you can expect then ​us creating chance after chance," Slot said.

"But overall I think we've created enough chances to win the game and we did very well by limiting them to maybe one, one-and-a-half chances."

($1 = 0.7432 pounds)

(Reporting by Sam TobinEditing by Toby Davis)

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