‘Need to step up’ – Joe Hart issues top-5 verdict on Liverpool after damaging defeat at Wolves

Joe Hart believes that Liverpool still have the ‘quality’ to secure Champions League football for next season, despite their current campaign hitting yet another low point on Tuesday night.

The Reds missed the chance to steal a march on positional rivals Manchester United, Aston Villa and Chelsea (all of whom play tonight) by losing 2-1 away to bottom club Wolves, and a win for the Blues at Villa Park would knock Arne Slot’s side back down into sixth place.

Speaking on TNT Sports after last night’s defeat for the Premier League champions, the former England goalkeeper remains confident that the Merseysiders will finish inside the top five, but warned that they ‘need to step up’ in the final few weeks of the season.

Hart still backing Liverpool to finish in top five

Hart said of Liverpool’s Champions League qualification prospects: “The season ebbs and flows. I think they’ve got the quality to do it, if Liverpool find their stride and can put back-to-back wins together like they did [in February]. 

“Previous to this conversation it looked like a dead cert, but that’s just how the season is going at the moment. I think they have the quality and the capability to do it, but they need to step up.

“Talking about the chances they created tonight, I know Arne Slot was saying they created more than Wolves, but they should create more than Wolves. They should be absolutely battering Wolves. Jose Sa has made one very good save, one half-decent save, and other than that I think he had a quiet night.”

Liverpool still in control of their own destiny…for now

A run of three straight league wins coming into last night had suggested that Liverpool were regaining momentum at the right time, but that has now been lost after the chastening defeat at Molineux, with the Reds conceding twice from only four shots faced across 90+ minutes.

That Villa and Chelsea play each other tonight – with at least one guaranteed to drop points – is favourable for LFC, but the harsh truth is that we need to take care of our own business and not be left praying for positional rivals to slip up.

Gary Lineker has also backed Slot’s side to finish in the Champions League places, and for now our destiny remains in our own hands, but more results like the one against Wolves would swiftly hand the initiative back to the other teams chasing a top-five berth.

Hart is right in saying that, with all due respect to Rob Edwards’ side, they’re the kind of opposition that Liverpool should be defeating with conviction if they’re serious about qualifying for Europe’s premier club competition in 2026/27.

The Reds have lost nine points with the concession of stoppage-time goals already this season. Add those on to our current total and not only is Champions League qualification a near-formality; we might even be just about still in a title race.

Alas, the battle that LFC face is one that nobody would’ve expected us to be in at this stage of the campaign.

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