Liverpool won’t set the Premier League record for points in a single season after losing 2-1 to Arsenal.
Two sloppy mistakes cost them the match and continued their relative slump after being crowned champions.
That underperformance has set tongues wagging. Before Liverpool have even officially lifted this season’s title, questions are being asked over whether they can defend it next term.
Critics wonder what Liverpool’s drop off in intensity means for the coming year, but they are reaching for lazy conclusions, in truth.
Parallels can be drawn between this period and the unease creeping in around Anfield at the start of last season.
Liverpool had won the Champions League but come up short domestically and did not make a major signing last summer.
Combined with some patchy pre-season form, a mountain was made out of a molehill in some quarters before Liverpool vanquished the doubters with a sensational season.
The intensity of the current fixtures is more akin to pre-season – and with the same importance for Liverpool now the league is sewn up.
Making conclusions about next season based on essentially post-season friendlies behind closed doors is a fool’s errand; especially for a manager this intense, with leaders who are so demanding.
Expect these fixtures to have no bearing on next season’s form at Anfield.
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