Liverpool were deservedly thumped 3-0 away to Man City in their final game before the November break, prompting more scrutiny over their £450 million summer makeover.Man City 3-0 LiverpoolPremier League (11) | EtihadNovember 9, 2025Goals: Haaland 29′, Gonzalez 45+3′, Doku 63′1. Serious questions over summer businessWe are not quite at the stage where you are worried that Liverpool bought a collection of poor players during the biggest-spending summer of their history.But the Reds’ recruitment staff better hope that the passing of time puts their recent business in a better light, or their jobs will be on the line.A huge sum of money was spent to renovate a squad that had won the Premier League last season and, in the short term at least, that only looks to have made it far, far worse.It used to be the case that Liverpool signings hit the ground running, but only Hugo Ekitike can be argued to have done that – and even he was poor here.Meanwhile, Florian Wirtz put in another anonymous performance, Milos Kerkez only appeared off the bench and Alexander Isak did not even leave it due to his fitness issues.Right now that does not look like money well spent, and the results and position in the table are proof enough. 2. Build-up issues rear their head againThere are some problems a team faces that you just know cannot be solved without dipping into the transfer market, and Liverpool’s issues in build-up are exactly that.Once again, coming up against a competent pressing team, the Reds looked like they had no idea to progress the ball, instead constantly funnelling it to a panicked Ibrahima Konate.Opponents have regularly played on the Frenchman’s limitations in possession this season, and he no longer has Trent Alexander-Arnold alongside him to fix things.It looks like that will be the case until Arne Slot has another passer in his back line, whether it be at full-back or in fact as a replacement for Konate. 3. Can’t focus on hard luckYou could make a strong case that Liverpool were slightly unlucky to go in at half-time trailing by two given how the first half had played out at the Etihad.Erling Haaland and Nico Gonzalez’s goals were both somewhat fortuitous, while the visitors would argue that Virgil van Dijk‘s header from a corner should never have been ruled out.But the fact is that you leave yourself open to falling on the wrong side of the fine margins if you are a team that consistently allows the opposition into dangerous areas and rarely reach them yourselves.And that is exactly what Liverpool were here and are in general, rendering any arguments or discussion over what they deserved utterly pointless. 4. Liverpool are awful away from homeIt is also telling that so many of Liverpool’s hard-luck stories so far this season have come away from home.Their record on the road for 2025/26 now reads: played eight, won three (two of those with the last kick of the game) and lost five.And that owes much to an inability to earn the right to play in games where you do not have 50,000-plus home supporters inspiring you to snap into challenges.If the Reds do not learn to do the dirty work – or buy someone who will – then they will continue to struggle in games away from Anfield. 5. They need to make the most of their coming fixturesSo now a two-week gap to stew on this defeat and hope Liverpool don’t suffer further injuries during the international break.But if there is one upside for the Reds it is that their fixture list looks a little kinder once they return.Three of the next four are at home, where Slot’s side are clearly much better, and the away game is a trip to an improving but still struggling West Ham.Perhaps there will be a chance to build up some momentum, though it will surely only be worth a top-four push rather than anything loftier.