There was sympathy for Liverpool’s youngsters and further criticism of Arne Slot after the 3-0 defeat at home to Crystal Palace, on another miserable night for the Reds.
Slot’s torrid October ended with yet another loss on Wednesday night, with a young Liverpool side dumped out of the Carabao Cup at the fourth round.
Here’s the best of the media reaction.
The reaction to a grim result centred around Slot and his selections…
On X, David Lynch felt Liverpool were doomed the moment the starting lineups were announced:
“Think that result and performance was baked in from the moment the teamsheets dropped here, and so it was a big call from Arne Slot to leave so many out.
“But it won’t look like a smart decision if Liverpool don’t see the benefits across the next three – a huge week coming up.”
Mike McGrath of the Telegraph said Slot’s gamble with his team didn’t pay off in the slightest:
“Liverpool’s incredible slump goes on as Arne Slot’s team-selection gamble backfired spectacularly as the hosts were dumped out of the Carabao Cup at Anfield.
“While some would view a home cup tie as the perfect opportunity to end a run of four domestic defeats on the spin, Slot instead put all his chips on this weekend’s Premier League fixture against Aston Villa.
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“This defeat will have done nothing to improve the confidence levels at Anfield at the moment.”
Harry Bamforth of the Mail believes the pressure is now genuinely growing on Slot:
“Don’t come at me yet, Liverpool fans. This is not me saying that Arne Slot should be shown the door, that would be silly.
“However, he really needs to look at his tactics, that’s for certain.
“These defeats are on him, not the players. Liverpool are just way too easy to play through at the moment; teams have figured them out, and Slot hasn’t reacted.
“Inevitably, a run of defeats like this puts pressure on the manager, and the Dutchman needs to sort this out pronto. If not, eventually, fans will grow impatient.”
Academy reporter Lewis Bower feels Slot was guilty of throwing young players into an extremely tough situation:
“I think one remit of being a Liverpool manager is not only bringing through academy players but providing them the conditions in which they can succeed and flourish – play to the best of their ability.
“Unfortunately, I don’t think Arne Slot has excelled here, highlighted tonight.”
Gregg Evans of The Athletic focused on the importance of Saturday’s visit of Aston Villa:
“We will only really know the answer to that question at around 10pm UK time on Saturday.
“The crunch Premier League evening kick-off against Aston Villa back here at Anfield was always more important than this cup game.
“One of Slot’s sayings is that ‘nothing good comes from a defeat,’ but if the players who sat out this game return fit and in fine form to tackle in-form Villa, this defeat will be quickly forgotten.
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“This season was never going to be defined by their Carabao Cup campaign, but the Anfield crowd will not be as forgiving if things do not go their way again at the weekend.”
Finally, the Mirror‘s Tom Victor highlighted Liverpool’s woeful run of domestic results:
“You have to go all the way back to 1953 to find the last time Liverpool lost five straight games in domestic competitions.
“While the much-changed team provides a caveat in this case, as does the big win in Frankfurt a week ago, that doesn’t change the fact that recent form has been a concern.
“Arne Slot shouldn’t lose any credit from last season’s title win, even as some might be attempting some revisionism.
“The bigger concern comes from the fact that he wasn’t required to deal with this kind of downturn in form last term and questions remain over whether he has the nous to do so.”
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