The final word on Liverpool's Carabao Cup defeat to Newcastle United as the attention returns to the Reds' Premier League title quest
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Arne Slot with Richard Hughes
Arne Slot with Richard Hughes
The images that emerged from Cheltenham Festival on Thursday were at least proof that at some point last week, Liverpool were indeed at the races. Sadly for Arne Slot, that did not extend to Sunday's Carabao Cup final, where the club meekly relinquished their hold on the competition on what was an historic day for Newcastle United.
And having followed up Tuesday night's Champions League shootout defeat to Paris Saint-Germain with one of the worst showpiece performances in modern memory against the Magpies at Wembley, Liverpool are in danger, to take the cliched horse-race analogy further, of now stumbling at the final furlong.
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With a 12-point advantage at the summit of the Premier League, a collapse seems unthinkable in the last nine games for a team who have lost just once all season and some perspective is required to keep the worst week of Arne Slot's fledgling reign to date in check.
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Many supporters would gladly have sacrificed every other competition to be in the position they find themselves in at the March international break. But the manner of the first-ever sequence of back-to-back defeats for Slot's Reds will sting. And while the damage is still largely cosmetic, there is much to sift through, particularly as there is over a fortnight now until the side can get back to winning ways when they entertain Everton in the Merseyside derby on April 2.
Having played a punishing 120 minutes before losing to PSG on penalties on Tuesday night, the Reds looked like a team bereft of its power on Sunday afternoon as the Magpies bullied their opponents with sheer physicality.
Newcastle won 51 duels to Liverpool's 38 on the day with Bruno Guimaraes winning nine alone compared to the combined eight of the Reds midfield trio of Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai. The post-match stats were proof that Slot and Virgil van Dijk's frustrations of falling into the type of game Newcastle would have preferred held weight.
With just the title left to snare for Liverpool, they remain on course for what would be a remarkable campaign as Slot aims to become just the second manager since 1990 to lift a league championship with the club. That should be clung to tighter than ever just now.
"For me personally, there shouldn't be extra motivation [to win the league]," says Van Dijk. "You play for the biggest prize that you work so hard for from the start of the season when no-one expected us to be challenging for, first and foremost, the Premier League, one of the biggest prizes, and then on the side of that all the other trophies. Obviously the Champions League we couldn't get it done, this (Carabao Cup final) we lost and the FA Cup we got knocked out.
"We have nine games to go and I don't think there's any motivation needed to try to get the job done. What is needed is that we have to realise there is hard work and and still a job to do. Each one of us, including the guys that maybe don't play as much, guys out of the squad or the young boys, our fans, so nine games to go.
“Obviously the fact that everyone should be disappointed by not winning the cup but there is a title to win and when we come back all together we have a big game, Everton at home, and we want to win that one and make sure our fans are there to support us again and something to look forward to."
While Liverpool will likely become a punchbag in the next fortnight as the football content machine searches for sustenance during what is always an interminable international break on Merseyside, the chance to switch off, rest and recuperate might be just what many in Slot's squad need after a calendar year that has already seen them play 20 times since the start of January.
A 15-point lead before the weekend might be whittled down to nine by the time Everton are hosted but with a maximum of 16 needed from the final 27 on offer - and with title rivals Arsenal still to visit Anfield in May - Van Dijk says the whole squad need to remember the advantageous position they find themselves, even if he accepts things must tighten up on the other side of the break.
Reds captain Van Dijk says: “Obviously, I will not think about this, but it's a good thing to discuss it over the next couple of days, even when we are away. But if you just think about it, it's only nine games to go.
"I don't know how much, with quick maths, it is in minutes but if you realise that if you win five games - obviously that's a very difficult job - you're going to be champions of England. If you keep these things in your mind it also can benefit you for working hard, for keep going in difficult moments.
"Because I can guarantee you right now all those games that we have to coming up there will be so many difficult moments and if you're prepared to suffer, whether it is 1-0 down, 2-0, whatever, you have to keep going because you can see the end and you work so hard for it each and every day.
"For me personally, I do it automatically. Maybe it's experience, but when some players haven't been through that as much as I've been through it, then obviously it's good to speak about it and keep pushing and keep going, keep believing and it will all be worth it at the end of the road. So when we come back we have to be ready and if you're not, then that's a difficult thing, but I'm sure everyone will be ready."
Having come so close to league title No.20 at Anfield, there is little need to be reactive when it comes to a poor few days for the club but having opted against chopping and changing the squad that was bequeathed to him by Jurgen Klopp, Slot, by his own recent admission, has become more in tune with what his Liverpool team needs going forward.
A centre-forward is almost certain to form part of that thinking when the summer carve up begins, while midfield and left-back could also be areas to look at in the recruitment department.
Slot's fingerprints are evident through the team with the tactical tweaks he has made since succeeding Klopp but it feels as though the club are edging ever nearer to the head coach really getting to put his stamp on things, with sporting director Richard Hughes, who watched on at Wembley from the directors' box.
That they may do so at the Premier League champions should be cause for huge optimism, once the disappointment of last week eventually begins to subside.