Liverpool have the chance to put one foot in next season’s Champions League by beating Crystal Palace next, but more has been demanded from their players – with one eye on summer transfers
Liverpool have the opportunity to edge closer to securing a spot in next season’s Champions League if they can overcome Crystal Palace this Saturday.
The Reds’ aspirations of clinching a top-five finish received a boost as Chelsea suffered a 3-0 defeat away to Brighton on Tuesday. A thrilling triumph at Hill Dickinson Stadium against Everton on Sunday cemented the Reds in the top five and established a seven-point cushion over their rivals. Liverpool require three victories to secure a top-five position and need just two wins to guarantee they finish above Chelsea – or merely one if they defeat the managerless rivals at Anfield on May 9.
Despite an increasing sense of optimism surrounding the club, doubts persist about the Reds’ disappointing campaign and the future of manager Arne Slot. Today’s Liverpool news features club captain Virgil van Dijk calling for more from his team-mates, while two of the Reds’ latest signings have been singled out by an Anfield legend from the past. Here’s all the latest news from Anfield.
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Van Dijk’s warning
The Liverpool skipper has expressed his hope that the squad’s less seasoned players will shoulder more responsibility next season, with the Reds set to lose club stalwarts Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson this summer, reports the Mirror.
The Reds have seen many of the veteran stars who brought them so much success under Jurgen Klopp in recent years depart. Van Dijk, who rose to the occasion against Everton at the weekend, recognises it’s up to the new generation to prove their credentials.
He said: “Players have to step up. You grow into that [leadership] role or you already have it in you. That is something players have to show even more next season.
“After the World Cup, in pre-season, it will be an interesting development in terms of how the manager sees it as well. And then we have to tackle the season in the best way possible and not have a season like we have had this season again.
“You have to ask the question to the guys higher up. The leadership boys are falling apart – in terms of players leaving – so players have to step up and see what the guys making the decisions are going to do.
“But I’m pretty sure everyone has the right intentions to make us, as a club, competitive, and hopefully not have a season like we’re having this season.
“The focus is now on finishing the season in the best way possible. I think you come to the decisive period now, so if it is slipping away you are playing against very difficult opponents and you can get knocked out – not that that is the Liverpool standard I’m used to or we should be used to, not at all.”
Reds stars slammed
Jamie Carragher has thrown down the gauntlet to Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz to justify their enormous transfer fees next season.
Isak has found it tough to warrant his £125million price tag since arriving lacking fitness from Newcastle in the summer owing to an absence of pre-season preparation. A four-month absence following a broken leg at Tottenham hasn’t aided the Swede’s adjustment to life on Merseyside.
Wirtz made a sluggish start at Anfield but began to display flashes of the ability that persuaded the Reds to part with £116m for the former Bayer Leverkusen star. After netting six goals during the winter months, Wirtz suffered an injury and has disappointed since, notably looking off the pace against Everton in the Merseyside derby.
“[The big-spending summer] hasn’t worked, it might work in the future because I don’t think you can judge every signing in the first year,” Carragher told the Liverpool Echo.
“But I’ve said this before, my experience as a Liverpool player; every player who came to the club, I can’t remember one who didn’t really do much in his first season and then was a revelation afterwards.
“Some took a few months, you might get to Christmas, maybe second half of the season, so I think there’s a lot to do for the players who has come in. Hugo Ekitike has done well, not amazing but he’s done well.
“Isak hasn’t got going, he obviously got the injury but he didn’t look great to start with, Wirtz has got to do a lot more, an awful lot more when you think of the price that Liverpool have paid for him.
“In terms of what Liverpool need to do next season, well obviously they need to replace Salah. I think for me three players need to come straight into the team.
“You can’t go on and buy five players into the team. Liverpool bought a lot of players last summer so they are not going to buy a load this summer.”