In the second part of his weekly column, John Aldridge looks ahead to next season after a campaign to forget.
Florian Wirtz of Liverpool
Florian Wirtz of Liverpool(Image: CameraSport via Getty Images)
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The form of Florian Wirtz is in some ways representative of Liverpool's season as a whole. There's no doubt about his ability. He should be used to the Premier League now, and how physical it is and how strong it can be.
I think he's a fantastic player, but this season has been really good one week and not so good the next. There's no real consistency. Everyone's seen what he's got and it's up to the manager to get the best out of him, but Wirtz has also got to get the best out of himself.
He's got to realise that next season he's got to come back physically stronger to meet what the league gives you. If he does that and learns to defend better, he'll be just fine. Defending isn't a natural part of his armoury, but you can always learn to do it better and make a nuisance of yourself.
He was a bit disappointing in the match against United, but you only have to look at the marks that were dished out in the ECHO to see that he wasn't on his own in that respect.
If you were to mark all of the players for their performances across the whole season there would be a lot of fives and there wouldn't be many eights. There's a few exceptions - Dominik Szoboszlai, Alisson, Hugo Ekitike for the first half of the season. But then you're thinking, who's been consistent and got us off our seats? Not many.
Liverpool can't afford to lose Alisson
Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson will be leaving the club at the end of the month and there has been talk about other players who could leave, such as Alisson and Curtis Jones.
I don't know where this talk has come from. I feel like someone is trying to throw a spanner in the works. There's no way Liverpool can let Alisson and Jones go this summer. We've had one big transition last year. Alisson can play at Anfield for another four or five years. Why make the squad situation any more difficult?
I can't see the point in letting someone like him go. I know he's had some injury problems this year that have affected his kicking a bit but it feels like someone outside the club just trying to cause chaos.
As for Jones, he's a local lad and a Liverpool fan. Where would he go? I'd be very surprised he if left. When you've got two players like Salah and Robertson going, who have been so instrumental over the last 10 years, you need characters in the dressing room. We had that in abundance whilst Jurgen Klopp was there - Milner, Henderson, really good lads in the dressing room. That makes you tick.
You might say that we just need to go and get the best players out there. I don't know who that will be. Maybe Kostas Tsimikas will come back to replace Robertson? That would save money that can be used elsewhere and he's good in the dressing room.
It's important because we lack characters on the pitch at the moment. Whoever comes in, as well as being a really good player, we need a couple of really good characters as well.
Season's end can't come sooner, but Salah comments are a concern
Mohamed Salah suggested in an interview last week that he had raised concerns about maintaining Liverpool's standards after he has left.
Obviously, I am not privvy to what goes on in the dressing room, but for Salah to speak like that, you've got to sit him down and find out what he's on about.
Liverpool have got three games left to play and the season can't end soon enough for me. We need to get a result against Chelsea, who have lost their last six straight league games, and get a result at home to Brentford and make sure we get into the Champions League. Then let the owners and the manager do whatever they have to, to make sure next season is significantly better than this one.