Liverpool will not win a trophy and are facing a dismal end to their season. What does the future hold for manager Brendan Rodgers and his squad?

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

It means there will be no fairytale ending for Steven Gerrard as Liverpool captain. It also means Liverpool’s season looks like ending in dismal failure.

No trophies, no Wembley final date with Arsenal on May 30 and no Champions League football next season cannot be classified as anything other than a resounding collapse a season after Liverpool finished second in the Premier League.

Fair enough, there was no Luis Suarez this season while Daniel Sturridge has been a huge loss due to injury, but too many players at Anfield have not been up to the task of meeting the support’s demand.

Brendan Rodgers is the first Liverpool manager to spend his first three years in the role without landing a trophy. That stat may be cushioned by last season’s narrow miss in attempting to win the Premier League, but will be used against him if Rodgers fails to enhance Liverpool’s lot next season.

Mario Balotelli is not the only figure to fail for Liverpool amid last summer's £75 million splurge.

As always, Rodgers has to shoulder large swathes of the blame because Villa were not fortunate to overcome their opponents.

They fully merited their win yet could face Arsenal as a Championship team. Liverpool are seven points behind Manchester City with six games remaining of their league campaign.

They are likely to be playing in the Europa League next term. Several fresh faces are obviously required whatever goes on over the close season. Sadly, Stevie G's time has obviously come and gone.

WHAT THE MANAGERS SAID

Brendan Rodgers: "We're obviously bitterly disappointed but more with the performance. You can always lose a game but you need to play well and give yourself an opportunity. We had some chances but I thought they were better than us today to be honest.

Sometimes you can want to win too much. The focus comes away from what allows you to win. The team in the last couple of years have shown great energy, attitude and commitment - I thought our energy was low today. Villa had a good start to the game and we were too passive."

Tim Sherwood: “Not many gave us a chance today but we believed it and when we stepped onto the pitch we realised the fans believed it too. I thought we dominated the football after Benteke's goal and caused Liverpool a lot of problems.

We looked at Liverpool and thought we could cause problems with two number 10s. Jack Grealish and Charles N'Zogbia played in the pockets and were hard to pick up. We knew our midfield three would have the energy to cope and I thought the game plan worked perfectly today.

The bigger the stage, the better he plays, and that's a sign of real talent. He's very durable, he's a big guy - he takes more even kicks in training than on the pitch. But he's only a kid and he's still learning.He's Aston Villa through and through.

He lives a couple of miles away from the ground. He just wants to play for Aston Villa and I want to give him the platform to do that because he has earned the right."

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