Liverpool 0-3 Crystal Palace: Match Review
Liverpool limped out of the Carabao Cup with a weakened line-up raising a few eyebrows but it was a regular starter who should have been hooked at half-time.
Liverpool were always going to be up against it against one of the most well organised sides in the Premier League, especially after Arne Slot’s decision to rest and rotate his squad.
The injury list was amplified by the depth of the bench seeing the Reds boss having only two teenagers to turn to after the first couple of changes. It was clearly a pre-agreed plan to not be concerned about making the next round. Of those named, Calvin Ramsay being recalled was a positive although there weren’t many others in a red shirt that could say the same. Speaking after the game, Slot didn’t back down and instead reiterated why he made so many changes.
Arne Slot doubles down on weakened Liverpool team
The Liverpool manager doesn’t have his troubles to seek but it doesn’t look loke he will lose too much sleep after the defeat to Crystal Palace: “If I look at our performance against Brentford, two days after we played Frankfurt away, I saw there a team that maybe struggled with playing three games in seven days – again, not an excuse, which is not a complete surprise to me if I see the struggle some players have had in pre-season,” Slot said via the club’s official website.
“And players that came from different leagues, it’s a new challenge for them to play, at Premier League and Champions League level, three games in seven days. So again in two days we play Villa and the last time I played a player that we thought was ready for that programme, but it turned out maybe he wasn’t, was Alexander Isak and he went out with an injury.
“Last time [in this competition] we played Southampton, Giovanni Leoni went out with an injury in a game like this and we got a red card for Hugo Ekitike. I think in this moment in time, with only 15 or 16 players available, it felt to me that this was the right decision and I haven’t changed my opinion about that after the result. Because with our starters we haven’t been able to win a lot from Palace as well.”
Milos Kerkez should have been axed after first half shocker
In this sort of game, the senior players need to step up and, despite having over 100 appearances in the Premier League and being an established international, one of the worst performers on the night was Milos Kerkez. The 21-year old should have been hooked at half-time such was his ineptitude at both ends of the park with the four duels that he lost being the most of any player at the break. He also only managed a 64% pass success rate that barely made it above 70% by full-time and made just two passes into the final third.
Kerkez’s place in the team was already in doubt but Slot has no option but to reinstate Andy Robertson back into his natural position and gradually reintroduce the younger left-back. Robertson might not have the legs that he once had, but there is no reason why he couldn’t make a telling contribution for 60-70 minutes before bringing Kerkez on to build his confidence back up. Nothing is changing or improving for Kerkez, so Slot has to do the right thing and take him out the firing line.
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