9 hours ago
4
Liverpool, fielding a weakened team at Anfield, limply exited the League Cup at the fourth round stage on Wednesday, with Ismaila Sarr proving too hot to handle again for the Reds.
On another difficult night for Arne Slot's men, who have now lost six out of their last seven games in all competitions, Amara Nallo was sent off and Yeremy Pino put the icing on the Crystal Palace cake late on with a goal to make it 0-3.
Ahead of a big week, the pressure is on Liverpool to perform well. On Saturday, it faces Aston Villa, before taking on Real Madrid and then Manchester City. This is how the UK national media rounded up the latest disappointing result.
BBC Sport: "With Marc Guehi out of contract in the summer, the Reds could well try again to sign him — and this match again highlighted Liverpool's need to strengthen in defence.
"Slot picked three central defenders — Andy Robertson, Gomez and Wataru Endo — while Milos Kerkez and Calvin Ramsay were at left and right-back respectively.
"But the Liverpool boss, watching on from the edge of his technical area while getting soaked in heavy rain, will have been left disappointed with the goals his side conceded.
"One bright spot for the Dutchman was the performance of Rio Ngumoha, who became the club's youngest Premier League scorer earlier this season with a late winner against Newcastle.
"Ngumoha, operating on the left wing but allowed the freedom to move inside and run at the defence, repeatedly showed his skill and dribbling ability with the home crowd increasing the noise levels every time he touched the ball.
"But none of the other fringe players were able to take their opportunity as Liverpool limped out of the competition."
The Times: "Whether the teamsheet spoke of sacrifice or surrender can be debated, but the bottom line is that Liverpool's campaign contains another loss — and yet another defeat by Crystal Palace.
"The circumstances contrasted to those reverses already suffered in the Community Shield and the Premier League this season as Arne Slot fielded a second-string side, albeit one that still contained a World Cup winner and a European Championship winner.
"Yet whether it is the first team or the understudies, Liverpool have forgotten the art of winning. It is now six losses in seven games across all competitions as Palace, demonstrating their newly acquired appetite for silverware, sauntered into the Carabao Cup quarter-finals. Their reward is a trip to Arsenal, though that will hold no fears.
"As for Liverpool, another failure came laced with farce as Amara Nallo, a substitute, created a piece of unwanted history with a late cameo in which he was sent off within 12 minutes for tripping Justin Devenny.
"The 18-year-old defender's previous appearance had been his debut in January, when he was shown a red card against PSV Eindhoven for a similar foul just four minutes after coming on. No other player has been dismissed in back-to-back appearances for the club and he looked suitably distraught. Maybe he has not learnt from past mistakes, but neither has Slot for thrusting him back in."
The Telegraph: "Arne Slot has found new ways to deepen what is rapidly becoming a crisis at Liverpool. In desperate need of a victory to end their wretched run of domestic results, his decision to rest senior players backfired in dramatic fashion.
"Liverpool were picked apart by Ismaïla Sarr in the first half at Anfield and there were no big-game stars to change the tie as the Dutchman selected nine academy players on the bench.
"After reaching the final of the Carabao Cup last season, Slot’s team have now been dumped out and it is difficult to see where the next win will come from.
"This was a huge opportunity to change the momentum of the last month. Instead, it is another worrying defeat for Slot to digest.
"His last victory on English soil was in the Carabao Cup and this match could have given his team something to build on heading into what now feels like a crucial fixture against Aston Villa on Saturday."
The Independent: "It is not a crisis to be eliminated from the Carabao Cup by this excellent Crystal Palace side. Not with 10 changes, including two debutants in the starting 11, three teenagers beginning the game, and a creche on the bench. Not even when it was Arne Slot's heaviest defeat as Liverpool manager.
"But for him and them, a second successive Anfield beating nevertheless compounded the wider sense that the wheels have fallen off, suddenly and stunningly. 'There are many reasons why we have lost six out of seven,' said Slot. 'None are good enough to accept losing so many.'
"Liverpool have now lost each of their last six games in England. It is the sort of run which would have felt inconceivable when they went to Selhurst Park little more than a month ago, boasting a 100 per cent record in both the Premier and the Champions League. In a rematch, Palace reinforced the sense they are Liverpool's bogey side, and Ismaila Sarr their bogey player.
"No wonder their exuberant fans asked if they could play Liverpool every week. Oliver Glasner's overachievers have now chalked up a hat-trick, overcoming Liverpool in the Community Shield, the Premier League and now the Carabao Cup."
Daily Mail: "'Can we play you every week?' was the song from the away end at Anfield. Sadly for the hardy Crystal Palace fans who made the midweek journey up to a stormy Liverpool, they cannot. If they could, they might win the quadruple.
"Oliver Glasner has tasted victory against Liverpool not once, not twice but three times this season. The first was in the Community Shield and now the Eagles, also the FA Cup holders and playing in Europe, are a step closer to a fourth Wembley trip in a year after toppling Liverpool in the Carabao Cup last night sparked by a first-half Ismaila Sarr double and Yeremy Pino goal.
"That sentence should be motivation for any manager of a mid-table club: take the cup competitions seriously and this is what you can have. Ask any Palace fan — they tell you the last year has been the most fun of their lives following this club.
"Liverpool ended the game with 10 men after youngster Amara Nallo was sent off 12 minutes after coming on. The game was gone by then but it is notable as he was sent off four minutes into his debut in a dead-rubber at PSV Eindhoven. Sixteen first-team minutes, two red cards.
"Glasner's men did not need to be at their best to dispatch a Reds team who are in full-blown crisis mode right now. Arne Slot made 10 changes to the team which was beaten and bullied at Brentford — and the B Team were comfortably swatted away by Palace."
English (US) ·