Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher believes one of Arne Slot’s “big” decisions “bit him on the backside” in the Carabao Cup final against Newcastle United.
The Reds are reeling from a terrible week as they were knocked out of the Champions League by Paris Saint-Germain on penalties in the last 16 before they lost 2-1 to Newcastle in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday.
Newcastle clearly wanted it more than Liverpool as they were comfortably the better side at Wembley and ran out the deserving winners.
A superb Dan Burn header opened the scoring before Alexander Isak clinically converted to perfectly round off a brilliant team move to make it 2-0.
The Magpies showed great fight to see out the match and sealed a famous victory after Federico Chiesa netted a consolation for Liverpool in stoppage time.
This has still been a great season for Liverpool as they are 12 points clear at the top of the Premier League, but this campaign could be the end of an era for this squad with a huge summer coming up.
READ: 16 Conclusions from the Carabao Cup final: On Joelinton, Isak, disappearing Salah, VVD woes and more
The futures of their soon-to-be out of contract trio are in doubt, and head coach Slot could also be tempted to overhaul their attack.
Speaking post-match, Carragher claimed Slot’s refusal to “change the team” impacted Liverpool’s performance against Newcastle.
“I think a big thing this season that has stood out and probably come back to bite him on the backside today, he doesn’t change the team,” Carragher said on Sky Sports.
“We’re getting used to the manager, we’re not sure if it’s his way and it’s put Liverpool in a great position to win the league title.
“It shows that in this league, they’re running out of steam, legs, the fact that he’s very reticent to change the team or give the nod to players who don’t normally play meant he almost played his best team against Southampton, one of the worst teams the Premier League, because he felt, ‘I can’t take the risk in bringing players off the bench in the game’.
“Gravenberch, who looked tired, Szoboszlai, Mac Allister he rarely changes that midfield and again that’s something he’s got to learn.
“He got to probably trust his squad if they want to go further in the Champions League.”
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When asked whether Liverpool were “mentally or physically tired” after the midweek loss to PSG, Slot answered: “Mentally, it’s always difficult to judge.
“Were we on Tuesday mentally or physically tired? No. But this game had nothing to do with running, this game had only to do with playing duels and there was no intensity in terms of running in this game at all.
“So you cannot even judge it if we were tired yes or no, physically, because we could not press them. You can judge a team if they are tired and they press.
“But there was nothing to press because they played over our press. If they got a goal-kick or if they got a free-kick – which they had quite a lot of in the first half – they every time brought it into our last line, which led to a lot of set-pieces.”