The final INSULT

'ANY TEAM CAN LOSE A SHOWPIECE OCCASION - THE MANNER OF THIS LOSS, THOUGH, WAS SIMPLY UNACCEPTABLE'

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1 Never a more abject final performance

The clock ticked over into the 90th minute and the familiar strains of You'll Never Walk Alone began to drift across Wembley from the Liverpool supporters. This, though, wasn't a tune of celebration.

Instead, it was a more mournful, slightly defiant reminder of their backing for a team that, for the second time in a week, had taken part in a landmark moment for all the wrong reasons.

What had been envisaged as the afternoon when Arne Slot's remarkable debut campaign was rewarded by his first silverware at the earliest opportunity transformed into an utterly wretched occasion for the Reds.

Indeed, it's difficult to remember a more abject Liverpool performance in a major final than the one that gifted Newcastle United the chance to end a 70-year wait to claim a domestic honour.

An injury-time strike from substitute Federico Chiesa during a belated attempt of a comeback couldn't disquise a genuinely dire showing from Slot's side. Had Newcastle won by three or four, there could have been no complaints.

It was difficult not to feel sympathy for Virgil van Dijk, who at times appeared willing to take the Newcastle team on by himself, heading clear at one end, taking the ball through midfield at others and then, towards the end, spending much of his time in and around the Magpies box.

A few honourable exceptions aside, his team-mates weren't even close to following the example set by the skipper. Tired legs alone cannot explain the rank awfulness of too many before it was far too late.

So the spotlight will intensify on the future of not just Van Dijk, but those of the absent Trent AlexanderArnold and Mohamed Salah, who was among many to have a shocker here.