What is happening with Liverpool? 0 24

Crystal Palace crushed Arne Slot's team at Anfield in the Round of 16 of the English League Cup 3:0. The crisis for the Reds continues — what do they think about it in the club?

The bet on youth did not work

The match against Crystal Palace looked like a good opportunity for Liverpool from three perspectives.

First, the Londoners are also in crisis: before visiting Anfield, they had not won four consecutive matches. Second, revenge: earlier this season, Palace had already beaten the Reds twice — in the Super Cup and in the league. Finally, simple rotation — Liverpool has a series of tough matches ahead against Aston Villa, Real Madrid, and Manchester City, and rest for the key players was necessary.

Slot indeed fielded predominantly deep reserves against Palace. Young Rio Nguema, Trey Nyoni, and Kieran Morrison in midfield, plus Federico Chiesa at the forefront. The main players of Liverpool were not even on the bench; instead, they watched the match from the stands.

As a result, the experiment cost the Reds dearly — they conceded two goals in the first half for the second consecutive time, were reduced to ten men in the second half, and suffered a heavy defeat. And all this without the slightest chance of success — by xG (expected goals) and other key metrics, Palace significantly outperformed the hosts.

Anti-records

Liverpool's results before the match against Crystal Palace looked bleak, but now it is just painful.

Six losses in the last seven matches — according to Opta, no team from the top leagues has lost so many since the end of September. The Reds are the worst in Europe right now.

But that’s not all. Liverpool has lost five consecutive matches in domestic competitions for the first time since the autumn of 1953 — at the end of that season, they finished last in the top division and were relegated.

Will Slot be fired?

Liverpool knows how to work with the public and has adhered to a strategy of “no whining and no excuses” since the beginning of the crisis.

Arne Slot too — on the eve of the match against Palace, the club published a call from the head coach on the website not to give up and a promise not to seek excuses: “We have no excuses on our part. Yes, we understand the reasons and will discuss them, but the only thing we cannot and will not do is use them as an excuse. Our responsibility is to understand what is happening and fix everything. There is no other option. Part of this process is to feel the pain. We must be upset about results like Saturday’s, when we lost to Brentford, and use those feelings as fuel for additional motivation,” wrote Slot.

After the defeat, the Dutchman tried to stick to the strategy. But he couldn’t: “There aren’t many reasons for the defeat. None of them justify such a number of failures. But in recent weeks, we have had to play every three days, including after tough matches in Europe. If you look at the next week, it will also be very important. We need as many players available as possible. And you saw the lineup I put out today. I only rested those who mainly played last week. We probably don’t have as deep a squad as people tend to think.”

Slot later repeated the thesis about the squad: “The last time we played in the League Cup against Southampton, Giovanni Leoni got injured. And we don’t have as big a squad as it may seem because all the attention was focused on the money we spent in the summer. People think we have 25 players, but we mainly have 20 players, and four of them are injured.”

And once more: “At the moment, we only have 15 players in our squad. Moreover, this tournament has always been used by the club for players from the academy to play. I considered it the right decision. We didn’t win against Crystal Palace even with the main squad,” said Slot.

The coach of the Londoners, Oliver Glasner, has his own opinion on the matter: “Fielding such a lineup is Slot's decision; I am not concerned about it. Joe Gomez played for England, Wataru Endo for Japan, Chiesa for Italy, Alexis Mac Allister won the World Cup. It was a very good team, and it was Liverpool. For example, I wasn’t good enough to play for them. Maybe it’s not the strongest squad, but it’s very solid,” stated Glasner.

The thoughts of the Palace coach seem logical — but do Liverpool's bosses agree with him, and what do they plan to do with Slot? It remains unknown. Before the cup match, all authoritative sources, including insider Fabrizio Romano, claimed that Arne was safe. Considering that the Reds are led by far from the most impulsive people, it is unlikely that another defeat will change anything.

However, Liverpool has matches against Aston Villa, Real Madrid, and Manchester City ahead. And here, it seems, Slot's position may seriously wobble.