Liverpool exit the Carabao Cup as another matchday brings another defeat, with Arne Slot questionably ringing the changes and substitute Amara Nallo earning an unwanted record.
Liverpool 0-3 Crystal Palace
Carabao Cup 4th Round | Anfield
October 29, 2025
Goals: Sarr 41′, 45′, Pino 88′
1. Over-zealous Liverpool fall on the sword
There is too much trying for so little reward. Sounds like a strange thing to say about a football club in a slump, desperate to stop the rot. They should be trying too hard, right?
With each passing matchday and each maligned performance, the desperation levels are slowly cranking up. We see this in the form of heavy touches, adrenaline-charged passes, holding onto possession far too long.
The opening goal saw red shirts swarm the ball as it zipped about in different directions, before an ill-timed Joe Gomez touch teed it up perfectly for Ismalia Sarr in a clean acre of space, right on the edge of the area. That should not be happening.
Before the second goal rippled the back of the net, Palace could’ve already been two clear when Milos Kerkez got itchy feet on the halfway line, cushioning the ball and retaining total possession on the break – before slotting a frenzied and needless pass well beyond the nearby Trey Nyoni for a rapid Palace turnover.
Less than 60 seconds later the visitors recorded another shot on target. A few minutes later they officially had their second of the evening.
Liverpool are not only performing the basics in the most sub-par fashion, but they’re making their own mountains out of things that wouldn’t ordinarily even resemble molehills. It’s painfully repetitive now, and very much avoidable.
2. Slot misfires with his selection
The manager showed his hand pre-match, with his outward admission that the strangely ensembled XI was selected purely on grounds of further injury avoidance and putting out what assets he had at his disposal.
Slot is nothing but honest, it’s a respectable trait, but here he was setting himself up for many an obvious dramatic headline.
‘Manager in crisis throws lambs to the slaughter in order to protect the remainder of his wayward flock’. Okay, perhaps not as dramatic as that, but it’s the easy assumption.
On paper this wasn’t quite the Frankenstein’s Monster of a team selection as it first appeared – Slot fielded two national team captains, with a forward line led by a European Championship winner. But the depth of fragmentation around the rest of the formation only served to yield a very hesitant and tempered performance. It was a non-starter from the off.
Slot was right to consider avoiding high profile injuries on a cold, rain-soaked October evening, but a victory or at least a highly spirited performance here would have massaged morale and ignited a bit of momentum.
Instead, we digest yet another defeat at Anfield. Could Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike really have not come off the bench?
3. Youth pegged back
Any match in which you can get your youth talent onto the pitch with some of the first team stars is always a welcome blessing, but nothing came off for the young guns this evening.
All eyes were naturally on Rio Ngumoha once more, following his dazzling Premier League exploits, but the 17-year-old found himself running into the meaty side of an opposition’s shoulder one time too many.
Confidence was steadily sucked from this match by each passing minute and the nerves understandably nibbled at the academy lads quickest.
On a few occasions Ngumoha, bereft of options, failed to find the right pass. Kieran Morrison likewise found himself strolling down blind alleys more readily than he would have liked.
Calvin Ramsay did what he could down the flank, covering some decent yardage, but this never felt like a match or an evening in which he could do anything that would catch the eye. Liverpool looked steadily more wayward, with just one miserable shot on target.
4. A career curse for Amara Nallo?
Two first-team senior appearances and two red cards, the first Liverpool player in history to be sent off in back-to-back appearances. Amara Nallo, my friend, that is quite some going.
It would be cruel to add extra focus on the youngster, who turns 19 in a couple of weeks, but such a record has curse written all over it.
Nallo being caught cold as Liverpool’s last man as Palace broke through – yet again – was no surprise. The Reds got more porous as the match ebbed on and it seemed like only a matter of time before somebody was going to be caught in a compromising moment with a split-second decision to make.
Still, for Nallo to pull a short straw again is just the ultimate head-in-hands moment. It’ll be the answer to a pub quiz question for many, many years to come.
5. Chiesa, it seems, will always be the nearly-man
Federico we love you, but it seems your role in this team is now set. To see Chiesa leading the line came as little surprise given the nature of the tie, but there will perhaps be a small part of Slot who feels vindicated after seeing the Italian in action this evening, without a goal return.
As the rain lashed down Chiesa displayed his usually tenacity, determination and doggedness – fighting for every loose ball and wearing his heart on the sleeve.
From the Kop and around the stadium his anthem boomed out and rolled down all four stands, but the former Juventus talisman was unable to convert his one clean-cut opportunity on target, when it very much could and should have been a goal.
Chiesa’s movement to create the first-half golden moment was laced with experienced, timing the run and judging the bounce, but his lashed volleyed effort portrayed a man who is almost too desperate to uproot the back of the net. The chance went begging, and the match in which Federico was Liverpool’s main man passed by without bearing fruit.
The fan-favourite did lots of right things, but general fluency all round was never present across any part of the pitch. I’m hard-pressed to think of a more likeable player in recent years for the Reds, but it seems he’ll always be the nearly-man.
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