Trent Alexander-Arnold has admitted that he and his Liverpool teammates are disappointed with their current situation but has insisted that ‘assessing’ their problems can wait until the end of the campaign.
The Scouser knows that the Reds’ main target is to now finish in the top four as they prepare for Sunday’s ‘big’ clash against Manchester United at Anfield.
Jurgen Klopp’s men currently find themselves six points behind fourth placed Spurs with a game in hand still to play on the north London outfit.
“Of course, as a team, we would have hoped to have had a much better season, to be in the title race and in and around trying to win the league but that hasn’t been the case this season,” the England international told the Liverpool Echo (via Rousing The Kop). “It’s one of those, we will assess what really went wrong and what happened at the end of the season. It’s not one for dissecting during the middle of the year.
“We’ve got to focus on the task ahead and our targets have probably changed a bit. We still want the top four and that is what we all want as a team, as players, as a club. That is where we need to be and we need to give everything we can to make sure we’re in the Champions League next year.
“There is always a weird transition period in the season where you’re sort of in between targets. Whether you can push for the league or you’re fighting for top four and there is always a weird air about it. But I think now we fully understand what our task is now and it’s to go and get the top four.
“That’s our aim, that’s our target and we’re clear in our vision. That is what we’re aiming for and as a team we think it’s achievable and as a team we just need to go there and produce it and that starts with us. We started out with a good set of results, the last four league games especially and then it’s obviously a big one on Sunday.”
We had aspirations at the beginning of the season to once again compete on all four fronts but Klopp has already admitted that this is a campaign to forget.
Strengthening our squad in the summer is imperative if we’re to seriously compete next season but we must firstly finish the current campaign strongly.
Beating United on Sunday would send out a huge message to the rest of the sides around us competing for the top four as we then prepare for games against Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal in the next few weeks.
Erik ten Hag’s side will travel to L4 full of confidence as they’re still in contention to win all four trophies possible.
Let’s hope we can put in a strong performance and pick up all three points against the Red Devils
He’s the biggest culprit, a liability and half hearted in his endeavour