Japan long throws, grief counselling and Mohamed Salah: Inside Liverpool season like no other

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The ECHO's Liverpool FC correspondent, Paul Gorst, assesses a difficult campaign for Arne Slot and his team in an end-of-season reportAny attempt to analyse a difficult season at Liverpool by framing sporting under-performance inside the prism of the July death of Diogo Jota might feel glib.In the one-eyed world of football tribalism, using the passing of the popular Portuguese, who died with his brother, Andre Silva, in a car accident in northern Spain nearly 11 months ago, can be seen as being in poor taste.Another narrow view is that blaming Premier League defeats on the sudden and shock passing of a much-loved colleague is crass.But while neither the Liverpool squad nor head coach Arne Slot have ever put forward that particular argument themselves either publicly or privately, it is naive to the point of willful ignorance to suggest Jota's death did not have a knock-on effect on everything else that followed across the campaign of 25/26.READ MORE: National media reflect on season Liverpool were 'tested to its core' as Mohamed Salah points madeREAD MORE: Mohamed Salah in tears as he and Andy Robertson get guards of honour on Liverpool farewellsIn February, former goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher offered the most articulate argument for why, deep down, results didn't really matter much to a group of footballers experiencing acute grief to the point where counsellors were present at the club's training base during the summer.“I find it a bit strange and a bit difficult when I hear people speaking about the players at Liverpool and the performances," Kelleher said. Without those early-season wins over Bournemouth, Newcastle, Arsenal, Burnley and Everton, it is fair to speculate that Slot will be facing a much tougher end-of-term grading from his paymasters.DAMAGING LATE SHOWSThe first of nine goals conceded after the 84th minute - eight of them in stoppage time - came in late September during a 2-1 loss at Crystal Palace, which began a sequence that saw Slot's champions lose nine of 12 matches through the end of November.Having beaten Bournemouth, Newcastle, Arsenal and Burnley with late goals, it was understandable why Liverpool continued trying to rewrite the scripts but the law of averages started to work against them.Eddie Nketiah's 96th-minute winner for Palace at Selhurst Park was followed by more late drama via Estevao Willian and Harry Maguire as Chelsea and Manchester United both beat Slot's side.Manchester City, Leeds United, Fulham, Bournemouth, Wolves and Tottenham also scored after stoppage time against the Reds in results that will have dramatically altered the view of the campaign.And despite insisting his team had worked on defending set-pieces before the trip to Brentford in late October, the champions were flattened inside five minutes at the Gtech Community Stadium when Dango Outtara scored after a long throw was flicked on.There was little evidence that the flaws were being addressed, which became a familiar theme throughout the campaign, even when Slot and his staff saw their schedule become more sparse in the closing months with just one game a week.THE SALAH ISSUEOn a basic level, Liverpool's problems could be explained, in part, by Mohamed Salah's sharp downturn in output.

The 29 goals in 24/25 went a long way towards crowning the Reds as champions but his last term yielded only seven.The Egyptian's final campaign on Merseyside was fraught with issues and his 'dropping' from the team as Slot prized more solidity out of possession at the end of November led to a breakdown in the relationship between the pair.Salah's genuinely extraordinary post-match assertion, following a 3-3 draw at Leeds United on December 6, that had been "thrown under the bus" for the team's struggles cast a shadow of the club for weeks.The No.11 had started 53 successive games for the Reds before he left on the bench for a 2-0 win at West Ham United in late November and there was some internal concern that day that Salah might look to speak out, post match, about his grievances.A half-time introduction in a draw with Sunderland a few days later was followed up by a late concession and a draw at Elland Road when Slot opted to keep him on the bench, leading to a major outburst from a player who leaves having topped the scoring charts in eight of his nine seasons at Anfield."I could not believe I was sitting on the bench for 90 minutes," Salah said at the time. I am very disappointed, I have done so much for this club over years, especially last season, It seems like the club has thrown me under the bus."That’s how I feel it.

Seems like someone does not want me in the club."The issue led to criticism of Salah, particularly from Reds legend Jamie Carragher on Sky Sports, and the forward was left at home for the game that followed as Slot's men earned an important Champions League win away at Inter.A fourth Premier League game on the bench then followed, at home to Brighton, after clear-the-air-talks were held earlier that week before Salah flew off to Morocco to be part of Egypt's Africa Cup of Nations campaign.The timing of AFCON was helpful to Liverpool and the issue appeared to have blown over by the time the Egypt captain returned but by the March international break, Salah was publicly revealing his intentions to leave.The long goodbye was officially underway but another outburst, this time on social media, came after a 4-2 defeat to Aston Villa earlier this month, when Salah was a second-half substitute following a return from a muscle issue."I want to see Liverpool go back to being the heavy metal attacking team that opponents fear and back to being a team that wins trophies," Salah said in a post that was widely viewed as a dig at Slot's style of play.Salah leaves as one of the greatest players of all time at Liverpool but his final year will be remembered as one shrouded in frustration and negativity. Salah's underperformance was stark to the previous eight campaigns on Merseyside, but so few of his team-mates were there to lighten the load in front of goal and Slot never figured out a way to allow others to take centre stage.WHAT NEXT FOR SLOT?Having scaled the heights 12 months ago by becoming the first Reds boss to lift a league title at Anfield in front of supporters for 35 years, Slot's sophomore season has left far more questions than answers over the direction of his Liverpool team.Support has ebbed away inside the fanbase at an alarming rate for the Dutchman and there is a feeling that a flawless pre-season and a perfect opening period to the new term is needed to top up the reserve of faith and belief from match-goers, many of whom have been bewildered by the style of play.Asked to sum up the biggest issue of the campaign on Sunday, Slot put it down to injuries and it is fair to say he has been without so many of his key men for far too long.But such is Slot's standing with many now that he will need the sort of sequence that kick-started his Liverpool life, when they won 25 of his first 30 games across all competitions.A transfer window akin to 2017 and 2018, when former boss Jurgen Klopp supercharged a squad that went on to win the Champions League and Premier League in 2019 and 2020, is needed this time out as a new era truly begins without Salah and Robertson.A skeptical jury, however, remains out.FOLLOW OUR LIVERPOOL FC FACEBOOK PAGE!