Former Liverpool forward John Aldridge addresses the Reds’ current form ahead of Sunday’s final game of the season
Liverpool’s performance at Aston Villa on Friday night smacked of a team who just want the season to end.
But depending on what happens on Tuesday night, when Bournemouth entertain title-chasing Manchester City, Arne Slot and his players might still have a job to do this weekend against Brentford.
A year out of the Champions League would be hugely damaging to a club like Liverpool, with their financial model so they need to be on it if they do need a result this weekend. But after seeing the performance at Villa Park, many are more hopeful that Pep Guardiola’s City can do the business instead. That is what it has come to.
Liverpool lack characters in that dressing room and we’ve spoken about that at length in this column. They have become an easy touch. Too often teams cut through them and too many of them have not got the stomach for the fight. That is criminal at a club like ours.
So once more we are looking to a major summer of transfer activity and this window is as important as I can remember when it comes to correcting the problems within the squad.
What we saw last summer was the arrivals of Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike, so the club were preparing for the next phase in terms of their attacking evolution but the trio have played less than 150 minutes together this season.
Long-term those three will carry so much responsibility and there is no denying they are individually top class. But for 101 reasons this season it hasn’t worked out. We need to see more of those three together next time out but the worry is how long Ekitike will be out for.
There’s a lack of resilience in that squad and that has to be a consideration going forward when the club embark on another massive period in the transfer window.
Last summer was supposed to be the window where the club restocked for the coming years but it only looks like part of the process now. Another huge summer awaits and Champions League qualification is more important than ever.
