Arne Slot knows what has to happen next as Liverpool end season in strangely trademark fashion
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SportFootballLiverpool FCIan Doyle with the main talking point from Liverpool's Premier League clash against Brentford at Anfield on Sunday afternoonLiverpool will play in the Champions League next season and Arne Slot can now begin in earnest planning the latest step of the inevitable and necessary transition away from the Jurgen Klopp era.Beyond that, though, the only certainty for the Reds is uncertainty as they approach a crucial juncture in their recent history.If last year’s Premier League title triumph could be deemed a honeymoon period for Slot, this tortuous campaign - which was brought to an end in strangely trademark fashion with a dominant performance against Brentford here that led to only a point - has been a cold, hard dose of reality.Even allowing for the mitigating circumstances with which they have had to contend over the past 11 months, there’s no dispute Liverpool have massively, massively underachieved.READ MORE: Mohamed Salah chokes up in tears after Liverpool guard of honour in emotional farewellREAD MORE: Mohamed Salah's Liverpool wish granted as what Arne Slot and Anfield crowd did speaks volumesSlot will know he should have got more of a tune out of this set of players, with even the Dutchman admitting he had been bored watching his team at times during the campaign. But what’s next?Indeed, it probably wasn’t just Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson waving goodbye to Anfield here, the duo each rewarded with an impromptu guard of honour by their team-mates on their respective second-half substitutions before a more organised and rousing send-off after the game.For Salah in particular it was an emotional occasion, the Egyptian seemingly in tears for much of the time between his 74th-minute departure and finally leaving the field following the customary lap of appreciation.
Both he and Robertson appeared to not want to budge from the halfway line as they soaked in the view from the pitch towards a bouncing Kop for one final time.As it stands, Ibrahima Konate will fall out of contract at the end of next month with talks over a new deal still to reach fruition, Alisson Becker - back here after 10 games out - is wanted by Juventus while the likes of Curtis Jones, Joe Gomez and Alexis Mac Allister have huge question marks hanging over their futures.They probably won’t be the only ones, and there’s a chance skipper Virgil van Dijk begins next season as the only Reds player to have been a Champions League winner with the club.New faces will arrive, the club will continue. Liverpool and their head coach simply cannot afford another season like this abomination.FOLLOW OUR LIVERPOOL FC FACEBOOK PAGE!
All the latest news and analysis from Anfield on the Liverpool Echo's dedicated LFC Facebook pageIan DoyleIan Doyle has covered Liverpool for more than 25 years, following them across Europe in multiple Champions League and Europa League finals and as far afield as Thailand, Singapore, the United States, Hong Kong and Qatar, and has reported on the Reds winning every major honour. Once had to tell Jude Law he does not drive a Mini.Choose Liverpool Echo as a 'Preferred Source' on Google News for quick access to the news you value.Liverpool FC