Man City reliance sees Liverpool's dreadful season hit new low as critical week arrives
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Paul Gorst assesses the fallout from Liverpool's 19th defeat of the season, which came in Friday night's 4-2 loss to Aston VillaIf anything underscores just how disappointing this season has been for Liverpool, it is that they enter the final week hoping for a Manchester City victory.Previous years have seen the Reds go toe to toe with City for the biggest prize in English football with the two clubs being the only ones crowned Premier League champions since 2018.That, of course, is subject to change this summer as league leaders Arsenal close in on a first title of their own for 22 years but that Liverpool are still hopeful of Pep Guardiola's side doing them a favour in mid-May is the evidence you need to show how far off course the defence of their championship has gone under Arne Slot.And the fact that Liverpool will be keeping tabs on the results of Brighton and Bournemouth only reinforces that idea, with respect to both, who are two of the most upwardly mobile and well-run clubs in the country.City are hosted by Bournemouth on Tuesday night and the Reds could use a win from their long-standing rivals to eliminate the Cherries from the top-five hunt ahead of the final round of fixtures on Sunday. But quite how it has come to this for Liverpool is entirely a different matter.READ MORE: Arne Slot makes blunt Liverpool admission but hints at major summer transfer changesREAD MORE: National media react to Liverpool defeat at Aston Villa as Arne Slot future 'intolerable'Twelve Premier League defeats, brought up by Friday night's 4-2 capitulation at Aston Villa, now equals their worst sequence since 2014/15, in the dying embers of the Brendan Rodgers reign and equal with a Leeds United side whose Premier League safety was only made official earlier this month.Slot's side have now shipped 52 goals, which is their most across a 38-game campaign with one match to spare and a total of 77 across all competitions is their worst since 1993, which was a Liverpool squad of infamy, far inferior to the current crop at Slot's disposal.Supporters might reasonably have expected Liverpool to have been the dominant side at Villa Park on Friday night given the stuttering league form of their hosts and the fact that they have a Europa League showpiece to come against Freiburg on Wednesday night in Istanbul.But it was also little surprise that a laborious Liverpool once more struggled.
The naivety on display at times was startling as the Reds' defensive structure collapsed during a chastening second half.After FA Cup and Champions League exits followed in quick succession to City and PSG last month, many spoke about the need to see some tangible signs of a team that could head into the summer with elements to build upon.Three successive victories over Fulham, Everton and Crystal Palace offered hints, even if performances were far from vintage, but the last three results that have seen Slot's men take just one point and has hammered home the idea that very few still believe in this Anfield project under Slot.That was something even the head coach conceded on Friday evening, saying: “I can understand that, at this moment in time, they (the fans) don’t have a lot of confidence or a lot of feeling that things can be much better next season."But I think then they are underestimating what a window can do, what a new start can do. So too are the hints of another major summer in the transfer window.Liverpool spent around £440m last year and embarked on the kind of aggressive and ambitious window a lot of supporters had clamored for for years, only to see the team go backwards at pace.So many of the club's followers will be forgiven for thinking that Liverpool's deep-rooted problems won't be rectified by simply throwing cash at it, particularly since the jury remains out on several of last summer's recruits.Spending good money after bad has rarely been the Liverpool way, even if there must be an acknowledgement that reinforcements are needed in certain areas.The final blast of the whistle next Sunday should provide the confidence-shot and exhausted group of players the much-needed opportunity to switch off from the stresses and strains, but the "new start" that Slot spoke of on Friday night at Villa Park simply has to come from more than just a few weeks off for all concerned.There is a mountain of work to get through both on and off the pitch this summer and still a job to do next week.
Well, provided Manchester City don't do them a end-of-season favour, of course.FOLLOW OUR LIVERPOOL FC FACEBOOK PAGE! All the latest news and analysis from Anfield on the Liverpool Echo's dedicated LFC Facebook page