Arne Slot singles out Chelsea star as Liverpool boss hits back after another horror show

Liverpool boss Arne Slot has hit out at his side’s lack of squad depth after the Reds were dumped out of the Carabao Cup by Crystal Palace on Wednesday night

Liverpool manager Arne Slot has bemoaned his squad’s lack of depth compared to Chelsea – singling out Estevao as an example – following the Reds’ Carabao Cup exit on Wednesday night.

Slot fielded an inexperienced starting XI against Crystal Palace at Anfield, with three teenagers in the line-up and seven more amongst the substitutes. Senior players including Hugo Ekitike, Cody Gakpo, Ryan Gravenberch, Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, and Ibrahima Konate were all absent from the matchday squad.

The Reds suffered a comprehensive 3-0 defeat to an impressive Palace outfit, with Ismaila Sarr netting twice before half-time and Yeremy Pino sealing victory with a late third goal.

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In his post-match comments, Slot appeared visibly disappointed and highlighted Liverpool’s shallow squad resources when compared to other Premier League heavyweights, particularly Chelsea.

“I saw City’s line-up and I don’t think they had one starter from the weekend,” Slot said. “But it felt as if you look at their line-up they played with their 11 starters. So maybe it also gives a little bit of insight – everybody has always said how big of a squad we have.

“When we played Chelsea, I said; ‘They’re missing eight but they can still bring Estevao in’. We are only missing four players at the moment and already we needed to start with four players under the age of 19. And, after I made two substitutions, we were on six [Under-19s].”

Chelsea manager Maresca made 10 changes for the Carabao Cup clash with Wolves, with Josh Acheampong the sole survivor from Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Sunderland. Filip Jorgensen, Malo Gusto, Tosin Adarabioyo, Jorrel Hato, Romeo Lavia, Andrey Santos, Estevao, Facundo Buonanotte, Jamie Gittens and Tyrique George all came into the starting line-up.

The Blues still managed to secure a 4-3 victory and advance to the quarter-finals, despite having Robert Sanchez, Wesley Fofana, Reece James, Marc Cucurella, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez, Pedro Neto, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap among the substitutes, with numerous others not even included in the matchday squad.

Estevao – the player referenced by Slot – netted Chelsea’s third against Wolves. Santos, George and Gittens also scored for the Blues as they secured their spot in the last eight for the third occasion in seven years.

Despite the victory, Maresca lamented that it was a tale of two halves. The Blues held a commanding 3-0 lead at the break and let Wolves claw their way back into the contest before Gittens sealed the win in the closing stages.

“In the first half, we were very good. It’s always complicated to go away and score three goals,” he said. “We were playing nice football, creating chances. We didn’t concede anything. The game was completely under control at 3-0.

“Second half we were not doing the right things. The first goal we conceded opened the game and gave them a boost and the energy to come back into the game. We panicked a little bit. We could have avoided all three of the goals we conceded.

“But it’s part of the journey of this team, this squad, to gain experience to get better and better.”

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