Arne Slot highlighted Chelsea and Manchester City’s squads to try and defend himself after Liverpool lost to Crystal Palace.
The Reds have now lost six of their last seven matches in all competitions, and Slot is coming under fire from fans.
The Liverpool faithful took particular issue with their manager’s team selection against Crystal Palace, with the starting eleven and bench largely made up of youth players.
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Slot defended his selection against the Eagles by saying that playing teenagers in the Carabao Cup is just something the club does.
He went a step further in his defence by suggesting that Manchester City and Chelsea’s squads are better equipped.
Arne Slot and Pep Guardiola before Manchester City FC v Liverpool FC - Premier League
Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images
Liverpool squad value vs Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal
Speaking post-match, as per BBC Sport, Slot commented on the strength of City and the Blues’ teams.
He said: “I saw [Manchester] City’s line-up and I don’t think they had one starter from the weekend but it felt as if – if you look at their line-up – that they had played with their 11 starters.
“Maybe that gives a little bit of an insight that everybody has always said how big of a squad we have. When we played Chelsea I said they are missing eight but they can still bring Estevao in.”
An interesting point from the Dutchman, but is Liverpool’s squad so much worse than Man City and Chelsea’s?
Well, when it comes to market value, not really.
As per Transfermarkt, Arsenal have the most valuable squad in the Premier League, followed by Manchester City.
But Liverpool are not far behind, with Chelsea taking fourth place.
Team Squad value
Arsenal €1.31bn
Manchester City €1.21bn
Liverpool €1.15bn
Chelsea €1.14bn
Arne Slot looks on during Liverpool vs Eintracht Frankfurt
Photo by Max Maiwald/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty Images
Liverpool injury list vs Chelsea, Man City and Arsenal
Slot also suggested injuries hampered his team selection on the night.
He said: “We are only missing four players at the moment and already we needed to start with four players under the age of 19. After I made two substitutions we were on six.”
Rotating in the cup does make sense, but the Dutchman did make a conscious decision to leave senior players like Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate out of the matchday squad completely.
Man City and Chelsea also made changes, but their managers still chose to feature several key names on the bench, such as Phil Foden and Pedro Neto.
When it comes to Liverpool’s injury list, it is on the higher side in the Premier League, but other top teams have issues as well.
Team Number of currently injured players
Liverpool 6
Chelsea 5
Arsenal 6
Manchester City 2
Figures via the EPL Injury table, and correct as of 30/10/25.