Dominik Szoboszlai confronted a troubling evening after Liverpool surrendered a lead in a second-half collapse against Leeds United.

Arne Slot’s side had produced a composed showing through the opening 70 minutes and appeared on course to secure their third Premier League victory since October. Instead, the match unravelled in the final half hour and left the Hungary midfielder searching for answers.

“I don’t know what happened after 2–0, I think we thought the game was over,” Szoboszlai revealed. “We just made sure at the beginning of the game that this is the kind of game where you can never underestimate who you play against.

“Maybe after the penalty they just had their momentum, scored the 2-2. We came back, so it’s a good reaction from the team again. Just conceding again from a set-piece is not the nicest way.

“After the 2-2 we showed a good reaction, we showed our mentality. We wanted to come back because we knew we made a mistake in a way that we let them come back for 2-2 and we scored the 3-2. But nothing to say about the result.”

The defeat leaves Liverpool in a precarious league position. The club sit eighth on the table and are 10 points adrift of Premier League pace-setters Arsenal, a gap that Szoboszlai acknowledged while appearing uncertain of his side’s standing.

Szoboszlai also urged collective responsibility as the squad seeks a response. “Now we have to find solutions, we have to show reactions and everybody has to take responsibility, and not always the older guys or the guys who are here longer. ]

The result raises fresh questions about Liverpool’s ability to arrest a run of inconsistent results. After a promising start to this game, the manner of the collapse and the concessions from a penalty and a set-piece will dominate discussion as the team aims to regroup in the fixtures ahead.

Chelsea slumped to a 3–1 defeat to Leeds United on Wednesday, a result Enzo Maresca accepted was deserved after a poor showing. Jaka Bijol opened the scoring with a header, Ao Tanaka added a second with a long-range effort before half-time, and a calamitous pass out from the back allowed Dominic Calvert-Lewin to finish with just under 20 minutes remaining. Pedro Neto reduced the deficit soon after the restart.

Maresca did not hide his disappointment. “A very poor night,” Maresca said bluntly. “[Leeds] deserved to win the game, they were better in all aspects.

“There is nothing that we can take from this game. The only thing we can do is try to understand the mistake we have done, try to reset, because in 48 hours we have one more game.

“I hope that we had a bad night because they were … on the ball, off the ball, second ball, they were much better than us in all the aspects.”

Neto, hailed by Maresca as one of very few positives after the final whistle, offered a thoroughly unimpressed reflection to Sky Sports. “They were better than us at everything,” he conceded. “It’s difficult to take, we have to learn from that but we have to clear our minds, it happens. We are already focused on Bournemouth.

“Sometimes it happens, we had a bad day, they had more intensity, attitude, won the second balls and had more desire than us. We cannot take games for granted. Of course it hurts, it’s the worst part in football, Sometimes you can lose and say you gave everything on the pitch, but today we have to take some responsibility, all of us. Sometimes it happens, we are human.

“We had a really good month, it’s just a bad day. We don’t have explanation for that. Everyone wants to win.”

With Chelsea chasing the game at the interval, Maresca made the surprise call to withdraw 18-year-old Estêvão after the youngster picked up a yellow card following a petulant swipe at Gabriel Gudmundsson. “I think the feeling with Estêvão was, you know, a little bit ‘welcome to Leeds,’” Maresca said. “Sometimes aged 18, you struggle to manage emotion, so it was better to change him and to avoid any red card.”

Maresca also highlighted the absence of Moisés Caicedo. “We missed Moi tonight,” he said. “We’re going to miss Moi in the next game. He’s an important player.

“Moi is a player that for us is an important player for any team in the world, because he’s top.”

Chelsea produced one of their poorest displays of the season at Elland Road, falling 3-1 to Leeds United after a match defined by defensive errors and a lack of cutting edge. Leeds opened the scoring inside the opening 10 minutes when Anton Stach delivered a corner that Jaka Bijol met at the near post. Robert Sánchez got a hand to the header but could not keep it out.

Leeds sat in a low block after taking the lead and punished Chelsea again before half-time. A failed attempt to play out invited Ao Tanaka to shoot from just outside the penalty area and double the hosts’ advantage.

Chelsea dominated possession for long spells but struggled for ideas in the final third and produced only one shot on target before the interval. Liam Delap had the best first-half opening for the visitors but could not direct the effort with power.

The second half began with promise after Jamie Gittens’ run freed space for a cross and Pedro Neto seized the chance, controlling and volleying left-footed to reduce the deficit. Neto’s impact from the bench earned him Chelsea’s Player of the Match recognition.

Chelsea’s hopes of a comeback were extinguished by an avoidable error from Tosin Adarabioyo when playing out from the back. Sánchez got involved in a scramble with Noah Okafor and Dominic Calvert-Lewin followed up to tap in a third in the 72nd minute.

Substitutions failed to change the course of the game. Cole Palmer returned to action for his first minutes since late September and nearly influenced proceedings after an Alejandro Garnacho run, but his shot went wide. Malo Gusto and Pedro Neto were the most effective of the changes.

Individual ratings reflected the collective disappointment: Robert Sánchez 5.9, Tosin Adarabioyo 5.6, Andrey Santos 5.8 and Enzo Fernández 5.6 contrasted with Jamie Gittens 7.4 and Pedro Neto 7.6. Jaka Bijol was named overall Player of the Match for Leeds.

The result leaves Chelsea with clear questions to answer about consistency, defensive decision-making and their ability to turn possession into meaningful threats.