Return of Alexander Isak is all well and good, but it will not redeem a season of sustained underperformance
“The failure is big,” said Ryan Gravenberch as he digested the Champions League defeat by Paris Saint-Germain that ensured Liverpool’s season will finish trophyless. It was a more appropriate description of the team’s plight than Arne Slot’s insistence the future looks bright and a reality the head coach cannot avoid whether Champions League qualification for next season is secured or not. As it must be.
Failure is unthinkable for a club whose business model depends on its lucrative revenue streams and a team that, 12 months ago, was about to win the Premier League title at a canter and was then remodelled to the tune of almost £450m. With the top five all qualifying, Chelsea fading from the conversation under Liam Rosenior and a five-point advantage over Brentford and Everton with six games to play, it would be a humiliating final blow for Liverpool to miss out. Slot’s defence for getting a third season to manage Liverpool’s transition would be holed.
Sunday’s Merseyside derby, the first to be staged at Hill Dickinson Stadium, has assumed huge importance for Slot. But not simply in the aftermath of Tuesday’s Champions League exit. The visit to Everton represents the conclusion of what was long considered a defining period for him, a sequence of five matches in 16 days that would determine Liverpool’s course in the FA Cup and Champions League plus strengthen – or undermine – their claims on a top-five finish. The first four matches have yielded three defeats, two competition exits by an aggregate scoreline of 8-0, two differing gameplans against PSG that did not work and one league win inspired by the 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha.
