Liverpool 0-3 Crystal Palace: Match Review
Arne Slot has struggled to settle on a consistent starting line-up amid Liverpool’s struggles in the 2025-26 season.
Stephen Warnock reckons that Joe Gomez should become Liverpool’s right-back for the foreseeable future.
The Reds find themselves in a malaise after four successive Premier League defeats - and six losses in their past seven matches in all competitions.
Arne Slot made wholesale changes for Liverpool’s Carabao Cup fourth-round tie against Crystal Palace. The likes of Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Florian Wirtz were all rested completely for the night as the Reds fell to a 3-0 reverse.
Liverpool now turn their attention to a Premier League clash against Aston Villa tomorrow and the pressure is on Slot to deliver a result. He has several selection decisions to make when it comes to selecting his line-up, with right-back proving to be somewhat of a problem position so far following the exit of Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Jeremie Frimpong is sidelined with a hamstring injury, while Conor Bradley has had fitness issues. Dominik Szoboszlai has been Liverpool’s best performer and has been moved from midfield to defence at times. And against Palace, Calvin Ramsay was given a recall and made a senior appearance for the first time since 2022.
Liverpool’s best team
But Warnock reckons that Gomez should be ahead if Slot had a full squad to select. Naming Liverpool’s best team, the former left-back told LiverpoolWorld: “That’s the difficult thing. If you’re going to go with your best XI, obviously Alisson would be in goal. I’d go with Robertson at left-back, Van Dijk, Konate. At the moment, if you want to solidify things and make things difficult, I’d play Joe Gomez at right-back just to make them strong defensively and maybe not as much as an attacking team.
“I’d have Graveberch and Mac Allister in that holding role, I’d leave Szoboszlai in the No.10 and then I’d go with Ekitike off the left, Isak through the middle and then Salah on the right.”
Speaking after the game, head coach Slot said: “With only 15 or 16 players available – and I am talking then about players of our squad available – and to add to that this club has always used this competition to use their academy players as well – the non-starters and the academy players – it felt to me as 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.
“I don't think it is possible if you lose six out of seven that there is even more pressure. If you are on a run of results like this, if you play for Liverpool, if you manage Liverpool, you know the pressure is there. I don't think it has changed much after this loss, but if it did then maybe the most positive thing about tonight was the position we were in, 2-0 down and we weren't really pushing for a goal because we weren't able to, the fans were behind the team and supporting us. That gives me the feeling on Saturday when our players will show how much it means to them, our fans will be incredibly supportive for us on Saturday. Again, we face a team that has rested in the week to play us and that's Villa.”
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