Liverpool manager Arne Slott criticized the Reds’ lack of depth following Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup defeat to Crystal Palace.
Liverpool manager Arne Slott lamented his team’s lack of depth compared to Chelsea, using Estevao as an example, following the Reds’ Carabao Cup defeat on Wednesday night.
Slott used an inexperienced starting XI against Crystal Palace at Anfield, including three teenagers in the line-up and a further seven substitutes. Senior players such as Hugo Ekitike, Kodi Gakpo, Ryan Gravenbirch, Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate were all absent from the match-day squad.
The Reds suffered a 3-0 defeat to an impressive Palace side, with Ismaila Sarr scoring twice before half-time and Yeremy Pino sealing victory with a late third goal.
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In his post-match comments, Slott seemed visibly disappointed and highlighted Liverpool’s poor team resources when compared to other Premier League powerhouses, particularly Chelsea.
“I looked at City’s lineup, and I don’t think they had a single starting pitcher from the weekend,” Slott said. “But when you look at their lineup, playing with the starting 11, that might give you a little bit of insight. Everybody always said how big our team was.”
“When we played against Chelsea, I said: ‘They are eight players short, but we can still bring in Estevao.’ At the moment we are only missing four players, but we already had to start with four players under 19. And after making two substitutions, we ended up having six (under 19s).”
Chelsea manager Maresca made 10 changes for the Carabao Cup clash with Wolves, with Josh Acheampong the only survivor from Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Sunderland. Filip Jorgensen, Maro Gusto, Tosin Adarabioyo, Jorel Hato, Romeo Ravia, Andrei Santos, Estebao, Facundo Buonanotte, Jamie Gittens and Tyrik George started.
The Blues managed to win 4-3 and advance to the quarter-finals despite Robert Sanchez, Wesley Fofana, Reece James, Mark Cucurella, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandes, Pedro Neto, João Pedro and Liam Delap coming on as substitutes and many others not even in the squad on the day of the match.
Estevao (slot player) scored Chelsea’s third goal against Wolves. Santos, George and Gittens also scored for the Blues, who advanced to the last eight for the third time in seven years.
Despite the victory, Maresca lamented that it was a story of two halves. The Blues held a commanding 3-0 lead at half-time, pulling Wolves back into the game before Gittens sealed the victory late on.
“The first half was very good. It’s always complicated to score three goals away,” he said. “We played great football, created chances and gave nothing away. The game was 3-0 and completely under control.
“In the second half, we didn’t do the right things. The first goal we conceded put us ahead of the game and gave them momentum and energy to get back into the game. We panicked a little bit. All three goals we conceded could have been avoided.”
“But it’s part of this team, this team’s journey, to gain experience and get better and better.”
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