Slot’s misplaced positivity does not tally with harsh reality of Liverpool’s season

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It was a more appropriate description of the team’s plight than Arne Slot’s insistence the future looks bright and a reality the head coach cannot avoid whether Champions League qualification for next season is secured or not. Slot’s defence for getting a third season to manage Liverpool’s transition would be holed.Sunday’s Merseyside derby, the first to be staged at Hill Dickinson Stadium, has assumed huge importance for Slot.

Should Liverpool’s worst fears be confirmed in the coming days Ekitiké, one of the few pluses from last summer’s expensive intake, would be unlikely to play again this year.Hughes will have heard the applause for Liverpool’s efforts that greeted the final whistle. The absence of their leading goalscorer would mean the new £320m front line that sent expectations soaring – Alexander Isak, Ekitiké and Florian Wirtz – have played 115 minutes together by the season’s end.Hughes would also have seen that Slot’s decision to start Isak for the first time in four months against PSG did not pay off.

We have showed we can compete with the champions of Europe in our stadium.”But with Ekitiké out and Liverpool stumbling through the run-in, in keeping with the entire season, a fit Isak could prove the difference between Champions League qualification and humiliation. We still have six matches in the league and we just want to play in the Champions League next year as well.