Liverpool verdict from Anfield as Arne Slot's side crash out of the Carabao Cup with 3-0 loss to Crystal Palace
Slot during the loss to Palace. (Photo by Daniel Chesterton/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
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If anyone was wondering how much Arne Slot was feeling the heat during the worst run of his Liverpool tenure, they were given their answer when the team news dropped at 6.30pm.
It would have been easy for an embattled manager, knee deep in the mire after five defeats in six, to have picked a slew of his big guns for this fourth-round tie against Crystal Palace.
Instead, Slot selected the exact sort of team that the Liverpool boss would reasonably be expected to at this stage of a competition that, plainly, sits bottom in the list of priorities. The message, despite the month from hell, was crystal clear: there's no panic here.
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It was bold, it was brave and while it was not quite Brendan Rodgers controversially resting the major stars at Real Madrid in effort to secure a Premier League win later that week against Chelsea, with Liverpool entertaining Aston Villa next, there were at least some similarities to November 2014.
Rodgers' Reds lost both of those back then and while the Northern Irishman eventually lasted another 11 months in the job, it was the beginning of the end in the eyes of many at the time.
Things are not quite as grave for defending Premier League champion Slot presently, but there was no doubt that he was willing to all but concede a place in the fifth round of the League Cup if it means that his stuttering seniors get their campaign back on track on Saturday night. A 3-0 loss here might be collateral damage if the champions are able to shrug off a dreadful run later this week.
This was not quite a waving of the white flag but it was at least a gentle, brief wafting of it. The nine-man substitutes' bench, for example, contained zero first-team players and only one of them had ever started a senior fixture, which was Kaide Gordon nearly four years ago.
Slot hinted, pre-match, that the inability to get his players on the training pitch for a full week, owing to the congested fixture list, has meant they have been unable to properly work on eradicating the issues that have blighted them all season virtually.
And while the likes of Milos Kerkez, Andy Robertson and Alexis Mac Allister did start this game, Slot will at least now have his key men available to him for the remainder of the week as they plot a way past Villa. There will be no Thursday recovery day for Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and co, they have to make that count.
But having opted against fielding a stronger side against Oliver Glasner's Eagles, victory against Villa is now even more important than previously after this ultimately comfortable triumph for the FA Cup holders.
A Liverpool team containing Kieran Morrison, Calvin Ramsay and Trey Nyoni made a bright enough start but they were unable to get any real help for lone frontman Federico Chiesa, with Wataru Endo selected to sit in deep and essentially become a third centre-back, which had a knock-on effect in an attacking sense. Chiesa lashed a decent chance over the bar and Rio Ngumoha caused a handful of problems.
But an unfamiliar and inexperienced lineup were undone by the class of Isamila Sarr, whose first-half double took him up to seven in his last nine appearances against Liverpool. The Senegal frontman has been the scourge of the Reds for years now and when the Palace fans began a chant that asked if they could play Liverpool every week, Sarr likely joined in quietly.
After acquitting themselves quite well, a poor piece of defending from Joe Gomez allowed Sarr to strike home inside the area with his left foot after 41 minutes. The ex-Watford striker then linked up nicely with Yeremy Pino for his second on the cusp of half time. It was a harsh, brutal exposure of a patched-up side by a team who were carrying many of their first team.
Pino, another established Palace star, took the away side's third with confidence, cutting inside and finding the far corner late on past debutant goalkeeper Freddie Woodman.
Liverpool failed to trouble stand-in goalkeeper Walter Benitez in the second half with Glasner's first-choice pairing of Marc Guehi and Maxence Lacroix keeping the Reds at bay, despite the efforts of Chiesa, who stuck to the task gamely.
It might not have been a celebrated night for the Italian but his work rate alone should give Slot food for thought in the coming weeks. Liverpool's exit from the competition shouldn't necessarily have a detrimental impact on his minutes.
The introduction of Academy centre-backs Amara Nallo - who was sent off just 12 minutes later - and Wellity Lucky, for Mac Allister and captain Andy Robertson with a little under 25 to play spoke volumes. Even for a head coach who might have had a desire to go one better than last season's Wembley showpiece defeat to Newcastle, there are clearly bigger fish to fry.
That, though, simply has to start on Saturday and if the team sheet here was proof that Slot isn't panicking yet, he has to show why to the wider audience now. The rot has to stop somewhere soon.