Liverpool travel to Old Trafford on Sunday in the Premier League, where a win would see them leapfrog Man United in the table.
Liverpool manager Arne Slot
Liverpool manager Arne Slot(Image: Getty Images)
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The time for judgement of Liverpool's season, according to Arne Slot, is not quite yet. With four games remaining in this seemingly interminable season for many supporters, a conclusive analysis must wait, says the head coach.
Perhaps he is right in some senses. After all, Liverpool visit Manchester United on Sunday afternoon looking to extend a winning league sequence to four games and go level on points with a team who went into the weekend top of the standings since Michael Carrick took charge in January.
That there is so much positivity around United at a time when those reserves are in short supply at Anfield is partly down to perception. That Liverpool can equal their buoyant rivals this weekend maybe indicates two things.
The first is that United have been in the doldrums for so long - last year's finish: 15th - that seasons such as this are only natrually heralded as major strides forward. As a result, the clamour is said to be growing to give former Middlesbrough boss Carrick the opportunity to take the team even further this summer on a more permanent basis.
On the flip side, the contrast in the respective moods either end of the M62 also highlights the demands and expectations at Liverpool, who are still technically defending Premier League champions. The fact that they head into May in fourth place is largely viewed dimly across a worldwide fanbase speaks volumes to what is deemed successful at Anfield.
The devil, as it usually is with these things however, is in the detail. Ten defeats this season is the worst for a decade for the Reds, with four games still left play against the teams who they would consider major rivals for a place in next year's Champions League.
Liverpool travel to Old Trafford having taken nine points from games with Fulham, Everton and Crystal Palace, which means what was dubbed as a make-or-break May against United, Chelsea, Aston Villa and outsiders Brentford, is not quite as pivotal.
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There is more margin for error now for Liverpool than many had anticipated just a few weeks ago but that same level of freedom likely won't be felt by Slot, who has at least seen the waves of pressure on him subside in the last few weeks.
But it was refreshing to hear the Dutchman admit performances, despite those recent wins, are still not where he expects the team to be and given he is now almost certain to retain his position beyond the summer, improvements across the board must be stark.
"If you (the media) became manager there would also be an improvement because Dominik Szoboszlai, two years ago, he became much better just by playing in the Premier League," Slot said on Friday.
"It was the same with Ryan Gravenberch. It makes complete sense that our team will become better because we signed so many young players. So if I am better than you then that will help them improve even more.
"People constantly say it's been so hard and yes, we've had setbacks - that's clear and obvious but it has been so hard because we have had injuries. Constantly every week when I have thought: 'Ah, this is a nice lineup', bam, another injury and we've had to change the setup again. Because we don't have 20 players of the exact same quality.
"So Curtis Jones is a completely different right-back to Jeremie Frimpong or Conor Bradley. Mo Salah is totally different right-winger to Jeremie Frimpong. I can go on like Florian Wirtz is a completely different No.10 to Dominik Szoboszlai.
"So you constantly have to adjust to your players. How to build up to the players you have available, so that has been an adjustment and hard that every time you think you have the solution you have to change details again."
Slot is right to an extent when he talks up the raft of injuries. The ruptured Achilles to Hugo Ekitike, Alexander Isak's leg break and the damaging knee issue for Conor Bradley have all been far from ideal.
The ankle issue for Wataru Endo ended the Japan captain's season quietly in February, but the number of setbacks should not have been as problematic as they have been for a club whose wage bill is the biggest in England.
Direct contrasts with the previous regime under Jurgen Klopp are probably futile but the German coach, somewhat famously, once won a Carabao Cup final without around a dozen first-team players.
"But it hasn't been hard because of criticism," Slot continued. "That is not what makes this job. What makes it hard is trying to win the next game with so many players unavailable. That is hard.
"But that you get criticised in a job like this, that is not hard. I get to hear a few things but if I say I hear 10% of what has been said I would say that has been a lot.
"We are talking only about football and my decisions but that is how it constantly works. I saw a team last week who were two or three-nil up and they have two misplaced passes. The fans were cheering because they were 2-0 up.
"So if you win every decision you make is perfect: 'Ah great, well done'. When we start to lose - which we have done more than I, the fans and everyone at Liverpool would like - there is criticism. But what makes it hard is that we missed so many players, so many important players, so many times this season."
Criticism is nothing new at a club like Liverpool, where the glare is intense as it is incessant and there is a feeling that it is Slot, more than Liverpool themselves, who could use a result this weekend.
Just five points from the 12 on offer are needed to at least secure a place in next season's Champions League, but observers are seeking elements that can be clung to in an attempt to show that next season won't be as turbulent as this one.