Liverpool verdict on Arne Slot’s first season as treble hopes collapse in brutal week

Liverpool have been left smarting after their Carabao Cup final defeat.

The Reds slipped to a 2-1 loss to Newcastle at Wembley on Sunday – Dan Burn and Alexander Isak scoring for Newcastle. It saw boss Arne Slot defeat in his first major cup final as Liverpool boss.

And with the Merseysiders having already been eliminated from the Champions League and the FA Cup, it leaves Liverpool with just the Premier League to win. They are already 12 points clear and it looks only a matter of time before they are crowned as champions.

But is just the Premier League a disappointment for Liverpool after a season that had previously promised so much? Mirror Football writers have their say:

Andy Dunn

When Liverpool complete Premier League formalities – and a 20th top-flight title IS a formality – it will represent a stellar first season for Arne Slot.

How can it not be? Slot will have taken the group of players that finished third last season to a commanding win. Sure, they went out of the Champions League to a good PSG side but, last season, they went out of the Europa League to Atalanta at the last-eight stage.

If anything, the shortcomings shown in the Carabao Cup final and the PSG tie make Slot’s Premier League procession even more commendable. With Federico Chiesa the only significant recent recruit, perhaps this is a squad that is not as deep as some think.

Slot will certainly need to be active in this summer’s transfer window but he will also be able to look back on a very satisfying first campaign in English football.

Is just a Premier League win a disappointment for Liverpool? Share your thoughts in the comments below

Jeremy Cross

Before a ball had been kicked, Liverpool supporters would have snatched the hand off someone who’d offered them another league title.

Because it remains the ultimate domestic prize. But Liverpool don’t just deal in English trophies, their currency is and always will be multiple ones.

And despite appearing to have the title in the bag, Arne Slot’s debut campaign has now imploded. If Liverpool go on to win the Premier League, it will be something to celebrate.

But the champagne will feel somewhat flat, because Slot’s side promised so much, but have lost their sparkle.

Oli Gamp

If you had offered Arne Slot the Premier League title before the start of the season, he’d have bitten your hand off. Should he secure the title for Liverpool, he will have exceeded expectations for his first season at Anfield and do what Jurgen Klopp took five years to achieve.

But that doesn’t mean this season won’t be tinged with a hint of disappointment – given the position his team were in. They topped the Champions League standings after winning all but one of their games, comfortably brushing aside reigning champions Real Madrid – only to fall at the first hurdle in the knockouts against a PSG side that is arguably the weakest it has been in years.

Just days later, they were beaten in a cup final against a team that hadn’t won a trophy for 70 years. In a crucial week that could have shown how dangerous they are and how much potential they have to become world beaters under Slot, they fell short.

However, Liverpool fans couldn’t have expected to win the title in Slot’s first season and after waiting nearly four years to see Klopp win his first piece of silverware, perhaps some perspective is needed. If anything, Slot has increased those expectations after bringing some incredible football to Anfield and should they continue in this vein, there should be even more success just around the corner.

Mike Walters

Since when has ‘just’ winning the title been a disappointment? Are you having a laugh?

Rewind to last August and remind yourself: How many pundits had Liverpool landing a 20th crown as champions of England this season? In a word, none. Zero. Zilch.

Arne Slot’s greatest gift to the Liver bird has been to inherit Jurgen Klopp’s squad and leave well alone, just as Claudio Ranieri took over Nigel Pearson’s side at Leicester in 2015 and realised that even the Tinkerman’s best option was to keep those meddling fingers away from a well-oiled machine.

If you had offered 10,000 fans on the Kop the chance to win just one trophy this season, 9,999 of them would have chose the title. Fact. Slot’s first season at Anfield has been a triumph. Nothing more, nothing less.

But just as Klopp’s final year at Liverpool tailed off, with a wasteful FA Cup quarter-final defeat at Old Trafford, defeat in the Merseyside derby at Goodison fatally puncturing their title challenge and Atalanta ambushing them in Europe, there are signs of fatigue setting in again.

Unsurprisingly, Mo Salah has struggled to make an impression when he has been daylight fasting during Ramadan, and Slot may yet have to replace his Egyptian king, skipper Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold this summer.

A passive, fatigued defeat in a Wembley final does not damage the Slot machine beyond repair – but it’s going to need a full service, with important parts of the engine replaced, before the 2025-26 season is upon us.

John Cross

JUST a week ago, Liverpool were on course to win a TREBLE. Now, six days later, they have only got one piece of silverware left in their sights.

So, it begs the question: can winning the Premier League title ever feel disappointing? Or underwhelming? Let’s face it. Liverpool have had a nightmare week. They crashed out of the Champions League on penalties after an epic last 16 tie with Paris Saint Germain.

Then they were red-hot favourites to beat Newcastle and lift the Carabao Cup for what would have been a third time in four years. But whatever happens next, this will still go down as an incredible, unforgettable season and no-one should forget that it will be only their second title in 35 years.

And for Arne Slot to do that in his first season is truly remarkable. They have embarrassed every other big club in the title race this season and been superb. What stands out for me is Slot’s squad management. While others have suffered injuries, Liverpool have rested and rotated.

The season was bound to catch up with them at some stage, but winning a title – and I think they will do it by double figures – beats everything else.

Neil McLeman

Arne Slot is only five wins away from winning the Premier League title in his first season to join managerial royalty like Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti. But the defeats in the Champions League and Carabao Cup in the last week threaten to turn this campaign into an anti-climax. And offer a worrying view of the future without Mo Salah after he failed to turn up for their biggest matches of this season.

Liverpool were unstoppable until recent weeks but have run out of energy – and they did not look like they were over the PSG penalties at Wembley. Newcastle’s aerial bombardment gave other sides a blueprint of how to attack the Reds.

And take the Egyptian superstar out of the attack – and that could happen this summer along with Trent Alexander-Arnold going to Real Madrid – and the Reds look worrying short of class up front. This Liverpool side are good but not great – and the chasing pack in the Premier League, especially Arsenal, must regret not being only six points back going into the title run-in. A strong domestic finish – and good summer transfer business – are now needed before Slot’s squad go again next season.

Chris McKenna

Some perspective is needed. This has been a horrible week for Liverpool after their Champions League exit and Carabao Cup final defeat. But let’s go back to January 2024 when Jurgen Klopp announced he was leaving the club. Liverpool fans feared the worst. Could they be heading back to where they were before the German arrived?

So if you told them in the summer that the new manager would lead them to just their second league title in 35 years to equal Manchester United ’s record of 20 titles then they’d have snapped your hand off. There will be hundreds of thousands lining the streets of Liverpool in May to celebrate what will go down as a great season.

They missed the parade in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic so they will be out in force to celebrate this one and this nightmare week will be long forgotten. Liverpool as Premier League champions could never be classed as a disappointment.

Daniel Orme

Of course, winning the just the Premier League can never be a disappointment. Liverpool have by far and away been the best side in the league this term and fully deserve to toast what has been a near-flawless campaign.

Do they have the best squad? No. But have they been the best team? Absolutely they have. And how often can you ever be disappointed at being the best at something, particularly when it comes to 10-month slog that is the Premier League.

But in a season where no other side looked to ever be challenging them, it almost feels as though they have claimed the trophy by default. Given the woes of Manchester City and the inconsistency of Arsenal, Liverpool really *should* be Premier League champions.

Would a Carabao Cup transform the season from a failure into a success? Not for Liverpool. But it certainly did for Newcastle. So it’s far from a disappointment. It’s probably more accurate to have a sense of what could have been.

David Anderson

It’s easy to say Liverpool are in meltdown after their exited the Champions League to Paris St Germain at Anfield, five days before Newcastle upset them at Wembley to win the Carabao Cup.

Instead of chasing a Treble, they now have just one trophy to aim for, but it is the one prize every Premier League team dreams about at the start of the season. Liverpool are 12 points clear at the Premier League summit and effectively need just five more wins to clinch their record-equalling 20th title.

No Liverpool fan, even the most rabid Red, would have believed this would be possible when Arne Slot inherited Jurgen Klopp’s side that had tailed off to finish third last season, nine points behind champions Manchester City.

This was supposed to be a transition season as Slot got used to the demands of English football and no supporter thought they would do better than third.

So they are all dreaming at being 12 points clear and, make no mistake, this season will be a huge, huge success when, not if, Liverpool capture only their second league title in 35 years.

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