Liverpool head coach Arne Slot
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot (Image: Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images)
The disappointment would have been tangible among the Liverpool players as they left Wembley on Sunday evening. But there's another emotion that should now be lingering.
Anger. Not necessarily at the outcome or the failure to secure a first trophy for Arne Slot at the earliest opportunity. But anger at the fact the squad had, in a woeful performance of precious few positives, let themselves down.
There is the obvious mitigation of the gruelling fixture schedule and the physical and emotional impact of the dramatic Champions League exit against Paris Saint-Germain five days earlier. Having invested so much only to fall agonisingly short would have affected even the most seasoned campaigner.
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But the display against Newcastle United wasn't representative of the standards this Liverpool team have consistently set this season. Not by accident have the Reds lost just once in 29 Premier League games and stand 12 points clear at the summit.
Channelling that anger in the right manner, then, could prove hugely beneficial when the squad reconvenes at the AXA Training Centre later next week with one sole purpose - bringing home a record-equalling 20th championship over the remaining nine games of the campaign.
In some ways, it was a rite of passage for Slot, following in the footsteps of Rafael Benitez and Jurgen Klopp in losing a League Cup final in his first season in charge. Both of those managers, of course, went on to win the Champions League.
European glory will have to wait, though. Maintaining their domestic dominance is an imperative, not least given the increasing inference the Premier League cannot be of great quality if a team like this Liverpool side is so far in front. It's not the Reds' fault their rivals haven't been able to live with them this term.
And given the overhaul that is incoming this summer as Slot finally has the opportunity to properly shape his squad and address some obvious flaws, it also represents a last chance for some of his players to either claim their first Premier League or add to the one won in 2020 that their performances over the wider period have merited.
There's also another reason, with Newcastle's first domestic trophy in 70 years a concern not just for Liverpool but many of their other rivals.
That there has been so little made of the fact the Tynesiders have for more than three years been majority state-owned by Saudi Arabia indicates the normalisation of such takeovers. Newcastle fans understandably just want their team to win while rival supporters have witnessed the manner in which the likes of Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain have dominated their domestic leagues.
Money eventually talks and Newcastle will be expected by their owners to use Sunday as a platform for more trophies over the coming years. Having had to be creative in competing with moneybags City for much of the past decade, Liverpool won't want that task doubled.
That, though, for the long-term future. Right now the focus is on what is to come next. And for all the talk of the season supposedly fizzling out, should Liverpool lift the Premier League trophy in May the rest will become irrelevant. The title has always been the priority from the moment that good start to Slot's tenure was maintained into the winter.
"We have had a lot of good days this season but yesterday was certainly not one of them!" said Andy Robertson, posting on social media on Monday. "Second best but we will take the knock and look to come back stronger. Best way to do that is everyone sticking TOGETHER. Still so much to play for, see you after the break."
And harnessing the anger that would have been felt leaving Wembley will be beneficial.