Arne Slot gambled on Wednesday when he decided to exclude from his matchday squad the majority of his first-team Liverpool stars.
But the Dutch tactician didn’t gamble with his side’s chances of advancing against Crystal Palace to the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup. The result, plainly, always felt the probable outcome from the build-up, and Liverpool are now condemned to six losses from seven games.
Liverpool did not have the firepower to overwhelm Oliver Glasner’s side, and so he has rested his heavyweights in the hope that the Reds will see an upswing in form across the crucial coming period of football. Up next: Aston Villa and Manchester City in the Premier League, with the visit of Real Madrid in the Champions League in between.
With that in mind, the decision to field a second-string team was understandable, but there was a dearth of experience, and with the outcome almost pre-determined, unleashing the already under-fire Milos Kerkez has backfired.
Milos Kerkez struggles again
Since September 27th, Liverpool have lost more games than any other side across Europe’s top five leagues. Defensively, it’s been a bit lackadaisical and erratic.
In this regard, summer recruit Kerkez has really struggled. The Hungarian arrived from Bournemouth for £45m in July but is unrecognisable to the Premier League Team of the Year inclusion who inspired such awe on the south coast last year.
Slot and Kerkez will take solace in the 21-year-old having created two chances, finding his man with both attempted crosses and connecting well with the lively Rio Ngumoha. However, he also lost the ball 19 times and won only three of his nine contested duels (data via Sofascore).
It was a display that, once again, left plenty to be desired, and Liverpool still wait to see the left-back form into a worthy part of Slot’s project.
There is, however, time on his side. But the same cannot be said for another part of the Liverpool backline, a player who has been at the heart of a series of transfer sagas in recent years and may now be heading for the axe.
Slot must ditch Liverpool stalwart
Liverpool have undergone plenty of change this year, and there’s a sense that some of the veterans need to stick around. This isn’t true in every case, though.
For so long, Joe Gomez has been a part of the club, instrumental in the rise of Jurgen Klopp and the longest-serving active first-team player – and that even before Trent Alexander-Arnold packed and left.
The 28-year-old was part of a three-man backline in the cup, but Slot’s attempts to negate the Palace threat came undone when Gomez found himself at the epicentre of the deadlock-breaker. It was his loose touch that gifted Ismaila Sarr the first goal of his brace, ever the bane in Liverpool’s side.
Perhaps Gomez’s miscontrol was more unfortunate than clumsy, but there was still a flash of a chance to clear the danger and keep that elusive clean sheet.
Minutes played
90′
Goals conceded
3
Errors made
1
Touches
92
Accurate passes
69/76 (91%)
Possession lost
9x
Recoveries
5
Tackles
1/1
Interceptions
3
Clearances
8
Ground duels
1/3
Aerial duels
3/4
Moreover, Gomez’s errant pass led to the Eagles’ conclusive third strike, and Liverpool World saw it fit thereafter to hand the England international a 5/10 match rating.
After attracting interest from Newcastle United and, curiously, Palace over the past two summer transfer windows, Liverpool may come to regret not cashing in, especially if that had led to the likes of Marc Guehi, who remains under Glasner’s wing but could have been fielded for the hosts on Wednesday.
After such sweeping changes this summer, Liverpool were always going to need time to develop and reshape as a unit. But this feels messy.
We are not seeing a coherent squad ratcheting up the pace, but instead a sour situation that now threatens to spill over if form is not found before Aston Villa’s trip to Anfield on Saturday evening.
If Slot has learned anything new, it’s that Gomez cannot be placed into the starting line-up against Unai Emery’s well-oiled team.
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