You'll have plenty to celebrate when you subscribe to the Liverpool FC newsletter Sign me up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

After spending the past four months contemplating the final chapter of Steven Gerrard'sLiverpool career, few foresaw the plot twist. One of Liverpool's greatest ever players will end his final season without winning one final trophy.

What a strange season, and scenario, this has been. The message came, over and over: this was not about Gerrard. And yet, every goal on this FA Cup run, every last-minute winner and dramatic turnaround, was put into that very context.

Philippe Coutinho's long-rangers, Mario Balotelli's cameos, Simon Mignolet's point-blank saves - all were done to edge Liverpool nearer to a cup, but also to give Gerrard his fairytale ending.

But now, the book has been closed, pages tossed and torn. So, what next for Liverpool, and those who must pick up the fragments of this fractured campaign?

If the final whistle at Wembley was any indication, numerous hours in a dark room. Mandatory appointments with Dr Steve Peters would not be the worst idea, either, as the team looked shattered, both mentally and physically.

The focus inevitably fell upon Gerrard's final steps at Wembley, but others were just as broken. Players were stretched out on the floor, empty; attempts to bring them back to their feet, futile. A couple apologetically traipsed over to the travelling support, heads bowed, embarrassed at what had just occurred.

Celebrations in the distance, singing from afar. This is what the end of a long, but ultimately disappointing season looks and sounds like.

This isn't the end of the season, however. This wasn't even the FA Cup final. It is not yet May, and Liverpool still have six league fixtures remaining with a smidgeon of hope surrounding Champions League qualification. Seven and eight points adrift of the two Manchester sides with a game in hand represents a difficult, but not impossible, rescue mission.

It will be impossible, however, if the reactions of Sunday continue into training on Monday, Tuesday, and beyond. Upset is understandable – encouraged, even – but it cannot affect the side when they visit West Brom next weekend.

Liverpool can not decide their race has been run with the home stretch still ahead. Champions League can be forgotten, if they do; so, too, will the fine work of last season be forgotten as well.

This is where Liverpool are at under Brendan Rodgers. An encouraging first season, a sensational second, and now, a real roadblock.

For some clubs, two semi-finals and a fifth-placed finish is a good year. Not for Liverpool, and not for a team who came so close to the title last season. If last season put the Reds ahead of their three-year plan to play in the Champions League, this has been a setback which almost feels like square one once more. The goodwill of supporters earned by Rodgers after last season has started to ebb away in some quarters.

To give up their place in Europe's top competition so easily over the next month would be damaging. There are the financial ramifications, of course, not to mention weakening their hand when offering contracts to players both inside and outside the club.

But it would feel like something even more substantial. It would be confirmation that this current squad must learn to deal with pressure and setbacks, and doubts whether there is time to let them learn, or if they are the players who can even do it.

In the league, all is not lost. Remove the emotion of this FA Cup defeat and Liverpool have a solid total of 57 points after 32 games. Not a patch on last season, granted, but that aside, their best points haul with six games remaining since 2009. Six wins would move them to 75 points. Even five wins would put them on 72, breaking the 70-point barrier for just the eighth time in the Premier League era.

To let this FA Cup defeat derail their league season would be criminal. It would raise questions about several players and whether they can be relied upon as long-term options at Anfield. To suggest players are playing for their futures over the next month would be unfair – it's clear who the club wants to stay, and who they would like to go – but it could be six games to shape next season and beyond.

The start of this season was a clear hangover 2013-14 ended, the morning after the night before. Liverpool began this season tentative, uncertain, lacking in an identity which had been so strong. To end it in a similar fashion would put the Reds on the back foot before a ball has been kicked in August.

The manner of their title concession to Manchester City is enough to scar for life, but it should have also served as a warning to how bad such a submission can feel. Their acquiescence of the FA Cup against Aston Villa would suggest that warning was not heeded.

They must pick themselves off the turf for what could be a painful end. With little to play for, in theory, this could be the time to find out the most about Rodgers and his side. There's a captaincy to be claimed, for starters.

Liverpool's last six games are crucial. Champions League qualification may not be achieved, but a rediscovering of both identity and intestinal fortitude has to be. If not, then it could have a huge impact on the squad and its direction, long after Gerrard has jetted off to LA.