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Now having lost six out of its last seven games, Liverpool getting knocked out of the League Cup was not a positive. It also wasn't a huge shock, though, with the Reds having made wholesale changes.
But in December, when Crystal Palace will travel away to Arsenal in the League Cup quarter-finals, the Eagles will face four games in eight days or five in 11. At that point, going out of the competition might not feel so bad for Liverpool.
Because Oliver Glasner's men are in Europe this season, have progressed in the first domestic cup to take place, and also have a hectic Premier League schedule heading into the Christmas period, there are no other midweek periods in which to play the tie.
Crystal Palace is already playing in every midweek in December and January is also filled.
The first leg of the semi-final of the League Cup is pencilled in for January 12, so there is limited time in which to play the previous rounds.
Liverpool, of course, is no stranger to the League Cup and fixture congestion. In 2019, the Reds fielded completely different teams in the League Cup and the Club World Cup within 24 hours in two different continents.
A young side lost 5-0 to Aston Villa before a senior team beat Monterrey 2-1 to reach the final of the Club World Cup in Qatar. Jurgen Klopp's side was forced to play games on consecutive days.
Of course, a repeat of that exact scenario was not going to happen this time around, but Arne Slot might see a silver lining in having crashed out at the fourth round stage.
While Crystal Palace is seeking to find a way through all those games while successfully managing its roster of players, Liverpool will have one less fixture to think about.
As it happens, it would have been an away trip to Premier League leader Arsenal.
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Losing games, as Slot has had to say several times in recent weeks, is not a good habit to get into. But in as much as Liverpool will have a quieter period heading into the final weeks of 2025, there is a minor positive to be had.
Between hosting Brighton and going away to Spurs in December — shortly after consecutive midweek games with Sunderland and then Inter Milan — Liverpool will have a rare free midweek.
That doesn't compare to having the chance to win the League Cup at Wembley, and that chance having gone shouldn't be played down.
At least, though, the fixture congestion has been marginally eased at a time when Liverpool appears to need as much time on the training field as possible.
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