Under-pressure Liverpool boss Arne Slot has promised next season will be better after their Champions League hopes hang in the balance after a “damaging” 4-2 defeat at Aston Villa.
Slot says Liverpool will improve in transfer window
The Reds could have sealed their place in next season’s premier European competition but it was Villa who got over the line with a handsome victory which provided the perfect send-off for Wednesday’s Europa League final.
Ollie Watkins’ brace and classy goals from Morgan Rogers and John McGinn guaranteed Unai Emery’s men a top-five finish, while Liverpool’s wait goes on.
Virgil van Dijk scored twice but this was another directionless performance from the Reds as the pressure grew on Slot, who presided over an alarming 12th defeat of the season.
Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk applauds fans after the match
The Dutchman accepted supporters might not find reason to be optimistic, but he is expecting a better campaign.
“I can understand at this moment of time that they don’t have a lot of confidence or a lot of feeling that things can be much better next season,” Slot said.
“But I think then they are underestimating what a window can do, what a new start can do, and I think we know quite well what to improve.
“I think one of the things we have to improve is also very, very, very obvious, and I would have preferred not to talk about it here, but you’re actually almost forcing me to.
“If you miss nine players that can start a game of football, and almost all of them are starters for us or have been for large part of the season, then if you add that to what you can improve in a window and add that to players that are playing for the second season in the Premier League, that will automatically lead to much more.
“I don’t think the differences are so big, only doing in a few situations the right thing can already have a best massive upwards possibility.”
Liverpool are still favourites to book a Champions League spot and it could happen in the next few days if Brighton and Bournemouth drop points, while they can look after their own business by beating Brentford on the final day.
“Damaging because we needed either a win or maybe two draws would have been enough as well, but now we know one thing for sure, that we need a win next week if we have to do it ourselves,” Slot added.
“As we all know other teams, of course, need to pick a point as well for us to need a win, but it’s really damaging that we were not able to get a result, let alone a win here.”
Chelsea hurrying to seal Alonso deal after Liverpool update
Speaking on his Youtube channel in the early hours of Saturday morning, Fabrizio Romano shared an update on Liverpool's chances of landing Xabi Alonso.
xabi-alonso-chelsea-premier-league (2)
The reporter said it is still FSG's intention to stick with Slot, and as of now it is actually Chelsea hurrying to seal a deal - perhaps due to concern that things might change at Anfield.
Indeed, the Blues want to wrap up an appointment within a matter of days, Romano says, and Alonso is the only manager they have met with in person.
Other candidates like Andoni Iraola and Marco Silva have held talks through their agents, but as of now Alonso is the clear front runner with BlueCo hoping to seal a deal quickly.
And it may be in their best interests to get it done before the season ends, as Romano suggests Liverpool's stance could change if Slot fails to achieve Champions League qualification.
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Liverpool were dealt a 20th defeat of the season against Aston Villa in the Premier League.