What Arne Slot did followed flawed Brendan Rodgers plan - a clear Liverpool message has been sent
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Liverpool verdict from Anfield as Arne Slot's side crash out of the Carabao Cup with 3-0 loss to Crystal PalaceIf anyone was wondering how much Arne Slot was feeling the heat during the worst run of his Liverpool tenure, they were given their answer when the team news dropped at 6.30pm.It would have been easy for an embattled manager, knee deep in the mire after five defeats in six, to have picked a slew of his big guns for this fourth-round tie against Crystal Palace.Instead, Slot selected the exact sort of team that the Liverpool boss would reasonably be expected to at this stage of a competition that, plainly, sits bottom in the list of priorities. The message, despite the month from hell, was crystal clear: there's no panic here.READ MORE: Liverpool vs Crystal Palace LIVE - Pino, Sarr goals, Nallo red card, score and commentary streamIt was bold, it was brave and while it was not quite Brendan Rodgers controversially resting the major stars at Real Madrid in effort to secure a Premier League win later that week against Chelsea, with Liverpool entertaining Aston Villa next, there were at least some similarities to November 2014.Rodgers' Reds lost both of those back then and while the Northern Irishman eventually lasted another 11 months in the job, it was the beginning of the end in the eyes of many at the time.Things are not quite as grave for defending Premier League champion Slot presently, but there was no doubt that he was willing to all but concede a place in the fifth round of the League Cup if it means that his stuttering seniors get their campaign back on track on Saturday night.
The nine-man substitutes' bench, for example, contained zero first-team players and only one of them had ever started a senior fixture, which was Kaide Gordon nearly four years ago.Slot hinted, pre-match, that the inability to get his players on the training pitch for a full week, owing to the congested fixture list, has meant they have been unable to properly work on eradicating the issues that have blighted them all season virtually.And while the likes of Milos Kerkez, Andy Robertson and Alexis Mac Allister did start this game, Slot will at least now have his key men available to him for the remainder of the week as they plot a way past Villa. The Senegal frontman has been the scourge of the Reds for years now and when the Palace fans began a chant that asked if they could play Liverpool every week, Sarr likely joined in quietly.After acquitting themselves quite well, a poor piece of defending from Joe Gomez allowed Sarr to strike home inside the area with his left foot after 41 minutes.
It was a harsh, brutal exposure of a patched-up side by a team who were carrying many of their first team.Pino, another established Palace star, took the away side's third with confidence, cutting inside and finding the far corner late on past debutant goalkeeper Freddie Woodman.Liverpool failed to trouble stand-in goalkeeper Walter Benitez in the second half with Glasner's first-choice pairing of Marc Guehi and Maxence Lacroix keeping the Reds at bay, despite the efforts of Chiesa, who stuck to the task gamely.It might not have been a celebrated night for the Italian but his work rate alone should give Slot food for thought in the coming weeks. Even for a head coach who might have had a desire to go one better than last season's Wembley showpiece defeat to Newcastle, there are clearly bigger fish to fry.That, though, simply has to start on Saturday and if the team sheet here was proof that Slot isn't panicking yet, he has to show why to the wider audience now.