Michael Owen has warned Liverpool that they face a "big summer" to arrest the club's slide out of the Champions League.
Owen was at least able to take one considerable positive from the past season, missing just two games due to his well-documented hamstring problems.
However, he is determined to ensure that Liverpool quickly recover their lost momentum, with new signings clearly needed to strengthen the squad.
"It's not been the greatest of seasons on the league front, nor in Europe," Owen admitted after the club finished fifth in the Premiership and went out of the Champions League after the first group stage.
"We did win the Worthington Cup but we had set our sights much higher than that and, overall, it's been a disappointing season.
"Hopefully it will get better next year. It's a really important summer for the club. We have never performed to our capabilities this season."
Owen has previously indicated his desire to stay at Anfield for at least the next two seasons, but he is still determined to ensure that the club become genuine title contenders in that time.
"Whether the players who played have to improve next season or whether we need to bring players in, it remains to be seen what the manager does. But it's certainly a big summer," he added.
The England striker, who arrived in Durban today ahead of Thursday's friendly against South Africa, can at least reflect on a relatively injury-free campaign.
It did come at a slight price, in that his painstaking efforts to build up strength in his troubled hamstrings meant that he lacked sharpness at certain points during the season.
However, he took great satisfaction from the fact that the extra 45 minutes spent each day both before and after training had given him a promising platform for the future.
"I think I've ended up with 28 goals for Liverpool and that's the joint best that I've ever done," he said.
"But the main thing is that I'd set this season as a stepping-stone for my fitness and I've missed just two games due to hamstring problems, which is probably better for me than any of those goals.
"With the things I've been doing off the pitch, I was always going to have a patchy season as some weeks you're feeling sharp and some you're not.
"But I felt I needed to get a solid foundation in my body so that I could play a season without getting any serious problems.
"I set out this year to play as many games as possible without getting injured, at the expense sometimes of being 100% sharp.
"With any recurring injury, there are always going to be worries.
"It's a muscular injury you can cure through hard work as my hamstrings weren't strong enough, it's not like a knee injury or a torn ligament.
"I don't care what anyone else had said, I wanted to do it for myself."