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When the Liverpool team sheet dropped at Anfield, confirmation arrived that Arne Slot would make wholesale changes. For whatever reason, it was a controversial decision in the eyes of some.
In came the likes of Calvin Ramsay (a first senior appearance in three years), Kieran Morrison (a professional debut), and Trey Nyoni (a huge talent, but one who still needs some older heads around him to thrive). Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and others were in attendance but weren't named on the bench.
In a way, Slot had no choice. The Dutchman has injuries to contend with at the moment, and the plan, before the dire run of results, would have been to mix things up.
Had he gone strong and played the big guns, not only would Slot have risked injuries through fatigue, but he would also have admitted feeling the pressure.
A bit like a manager switching to a three at the back system to desperately find a short-term fix long enough to stave off the sack, veering off course in terms of his team selection for the Carabao Cup would have been more worrying even than a 3-0 home defeat.
"This felt to me like the right decision, and I haven't changed my mind after the result," Slot said in his post-match press conference.
And rightly so. While it certainly didn't feel like it to those in the home sections as the Crystal Palace win unfolded, it was the correct call.
"It is always a blow to lose a game of football, especially if it leads to going out of a competition," he added.
"But it is the same selection I did last season in rounds like this. There are many reasons we lost five out of six, or six out of seven. None of them are good enough to accept losing so many."
Liverpool always looks to the bigger picture, and that won’t change. Slot, though, knows his team must get better, not least because next week, it faces Aston Villa and Real Madrid at Anfield and then Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.
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In truth, the only real assessment of this latest defeat can come after what comes next. If Van Dijk, Salah and co are refreshed and ready to put in a season-changing run of performances before the next international break, it will be justified.
But given the current form guide and desperate individual and collective struggles, that doesn't feel particularly likely.
Frankly, with a resurgent Aston Villa coming to Anfield next, and then two huge fixtures to follow, anything less than the three best performances of the season to date — right off the back of six losses in seven games — and Liverpool will be fortunate to get anything in terms of points.
If it can, though, find a way of getting, say, seven points from nine, the League Cup exit will soon be forgotten. At the same time, if that seven ends up being closer to one or two, the scrutiny will really be ramped up.
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