The majority of the focus in the immediate aftermath of the Carabao Cup final was directed towards Newcastle.
Clearly, that is just and accurate. Winners will invariably draw the most attention following any cup final, even if it isn't a result that the whole football community is trying to convince you to accept as the best and most extraordinary event ever, suggesting that if you aren’t excited about the simple and completely uncontroversial charm of it all, you are a bad person or, at the very least, a Sunderland supporter.
No. It was appropriate and right for the attention to be directed toward Newcastle's outstanding performance and success that was long overdue.
However, now that the dust has settled, as Ant and Dec and Alan Shearer rise on a Monday morning similar to any other yet in a reality so, so different from the only one they have ever experienced, it is also time to pose a question to the losers. What's in store for Liverpool next?
The immediate response, which is a reasonable one to be fair, is ‘They will clinch the Premier League and throw an enormous f*ck-off celebration of their own’. And completely correct as well. They will accomplish both of those tasks.
Yet, nonetheless. There’s a peculiar sensation surrounding it all now, isn’t there? An inescapable and particularly brutal yet fully human feeling of disappointment. Presented this very season in August, every Liverpool supporter would undoubtedly and instantly accept it. You wouldn’t be able to move because of all the severed hands.
However, if this same season had been offered six weeks ago, the response would be completely different. The hands would be bitten less. Quadruples are, by definition, rare occurrences that seldom take place, but the rapid pace at which a potential quadruple has been cut down to just a single is still somewhat mind-boggling, even if the single left is the absolute best one.
There’s no question that Liverpool has, at times in recent weeks, shown a previously unrecognized weakness. The unexpected FA Cup upset at Plymouth could be overlooked for its unusual nature, and the league draws at Everton and Villa were never as catastrophic as some overzealous minds thought.
However, those were not impressive performances either, nor were Liverpool's in the Champions League loss to PSG. Or in a challenging home league victory against what might be the worst Premier League team ever. Alternatively, at this moment, in the Carabao Cup final.
In several aspects, this was the most troublesome of the group. Even more than the underwhelming performances of PSG. Liverpool excels in cup finals unless they face Real Madrid, who have frustratingly and consistently shown themselves to be superior in those matches.
Following a League Cup final loss to Man City early in Jurgen Klopp's tenure, he would not suffer another major final defeat except to Real Madrid. Tottenham and often Chelsea were both dispatched one way or another, with a UEFA Super Cup and a Club World Cup tossed in for good measure if you’re inclined to consider those.
Thus, for Liverpool’s initial final with Arne Slot to result in such a total lack of substance where a strategy and plan should have existed is certainly a cause for concern.
With Trent Alexander-Arnold sidelined due to injury and Liverpool surprisingly opting to substitute Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah with holograms for the significant occasion at Wembley, Sunday’s match also provided a look at one possible future scenario if circumstances deteriorate from here with the Contract Three.
And what that specific timeline revealed was a Liverpool team that is, frankly, quite average.
This Premier League season has been quite unusual. Liverpool have performed excellently and maintained great consistency. They are deserving champions, and indeed we are being very cautious in this situation. The question we're now pondering is exactly how good are they?
Which team is the best this season? Definitely and without doubt. However, they have reached levels of dominance comparable to Man City – and even to the Liverpool of 2019/20 – and, honestly, we’re uncertain if they are truly at that standard.
In conclusion: Liverpool is an excellent team and deserving champions. However, that is everything. They are really excellent, but they are not title-wrapped-up-in-March excellent. That is evidently a greater critique of Arsenal, Man City, Chelsea, and others than it is of Liverpool, and we anticipate that everyone will certainly grasp this in the comments.
However, it inevitably leads us to question what will occur with Liverpool and Arne Slot following this season. It seems somewhat unstable until the futures of Van Dijk, Salah, and Alexander-Arnold are clarified. It seems Liverpool requires clarity about the situation, definitively, in either direction, so that they can implement their plans.
In one way or another, Liverpool is confronted with a significant summer ahead. The consistent presence of players that facilitated the seamless shift from Klopp to Slot is unlikely to occur again.
During Klopp's tenure as manager, we often made the mistake of underestimating Liverpool after one of their rare off seasons. Is the risk now that individuals excessively value Slot’s? What if they simply aren’t that great once everyone else organizes themselves? What if this doesn’t mark the beginning of another remarkable era?
Liverpool 2024/25 is not as strong a football team as Liverpool 2018-2020 was. And that's okay; no one requested or anticipated them to be. However, they might end up being a one-time team instead of the beginning of a new legacy. There may have been an inexplicable blend of Klopp’s team and Slot’s calm guidance that could produce a season of almost perfection, at least in the league.
However, Klopp's greatest teams could underperform. During his peak years, their scores were 97, 99, 69, 92, 67, 82.
This year, they will achieve over 82 but under 97. Would anyone genuinely be astonished if next season it's around 60 again?
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