LONDON — Under-pressure Liverpool boss Arne Slot has promised next season will be better after their UEFA Champions League hopes hang in the balance after a “damaging” 4-2 defeat at Aston Villa.
The Reds could have sealed their place in next season’s premier European competition but it was Villa who got over the line with a handsome victory which provided the perfect send-off for Wednesday’s Europa League final.
Ollie Watkins’ brace and classy goals from Morgan Rogers and John McGinn guaranteed Unai Emery’s men a top-five finish, while Liverpool’s wait goes on.
“I can understand at this moment of time that they don’t have a lot of confidence or a lot of feeling that things can be much better next season,” Slot said according to PA Media.
“But I think then they are underestimating what a window can do, what a new start can do, and I think we know quite well what to improve.
“I think one of the things we have to improve is also very, very, very obvious, and I would have preferred not to talk about it here, but you’re actually almost forcing me to.
Virgil van Dijk scored twice but this was another directionless performance from the Reds as the pressure grew on Slot, who presided over an alarming 12th defeat of the season.
The Dutchman accepted supporters might not find reason to be optimistic, but he is expecting a better campaign.
“If you miss nine players that can start a game of football, and almost all of them are starters for us or have been for large part of the season, then if you add that to what you can improve in a window and add that to players that are playing for the second season in the Premier League, that will automatically lead to much more.
“I don’t think the differences are so big, only doing in a few situations the right thing can already have a best massive upwards possibility.”
Liverpool is still favourites to book a Champions League spot and it could happen in the next few days if Brighton and Bournemouth drop points, while they can look after their own business by beating Brentford on the final day.
“Damaging because we needed either a win or maybe two draws would have been enough as well, but now we know one thing for sure, that we need a win next week if we have to do it ourselves,” Slot added.
“As we all know other teams, of course, need to pick a point as well for us to need a win, but it’s really damaging that we were not able to get a result, let alone a win here.”
In contrast, Villa booked a second season in the Champions League in three years and they can now head to Istanbul for Wednesday’s European final against Freiburg knowing their domestic ambitions have been achieved, allowing them to put their full focus on winning a first continental trophy in 44 years.
It is another fine achievement for Villa, whose progress under Emery shows no signs of stopping.
