5 hours ago
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Of all his missteps of late, this was Arne Slot's first full face-plant - picking a team to exit the Carabao Cup.
Forget the temptation to label it 'disrespectful' to the competition. The Carabao Cup will be just fine without this version of Liverpool. No, this was an act of self-harm. The only thing Slot disrespected were the proud cup traditions of his club. It was also a massive miscalculation in the context of their faltering season.
Unlike the FA Cup, the Carabao Cup can help a campaign, not hinder. Much like the sponsor's juice, it energises a season, benefiting undoubtedly from its place in the calendar.
It comes at a time when the season feels alive with possibility. A run fuels feel-good and rhythm, for those on the pitch and in the stands. It can shape the narrative of a season, filling the early pages with adventure and the promise of a happy ending.
One of the biggest problems facing the FA Cup is that, by the time it comes around, the hopes and fears of the Premier League campaign have taken precedent. An air of early-season optimism has been suffocated by other priorities, including the latter stages of the Carabao Cup.
Arne Slot picked a team to exit the Carabao Cup - and Liverpool were promptly knocked out
For the top teams, the Champions League is starting to get serious, too. An FA Cup third or fourth round feels like a distraction, rather than a chance to build. A weekend off suddenly looks like an opportunity.
The Carabao Cup does not feel like that, especially in these early months when squad availability is greater and players are still competing for places in that best XI. Enthusiasm outweighs exhaustion in the autumn. Even with changes, it is a chance to impress. There is no sense of a fixture being fulfilled, in part because, as early as the fourth round, most are all-Premier League ties. These are live-wires, not dead-rubbers.
I made this statement following last season's semi-finals and I will repeat it now - the Carabao Cup is the best domestic cup competition in the world. Those two-leg last-four showdowns, live on prime-time terrestrial TV and with Premier League clubs fielding their first XIs, are unique.
EFL chairman Rick Parry referenced my claim in his pre-match address to those in Wembley's Royal Box ahead of March's final between Newcastle and Liverpool. From what I gather, none of those present threw their prawn sandwich in protest.
I was at Wembley for that game and the FA Cup final, both fantastic occasions, it should be said. But the Carabao Cup final was better. Why? It felt more immersed in the plot of the season, more frenzied and intense. The result mattered in isolation - especially for winners Newcastle after 70 years without a domestic trophy - but also for what it could do going forward. They went on to qualify for the Champions League, just as they did after making the final in 2023.
The FA Cup final, by contrast, was a sunny, late-season celebration. A curtain call. It felt more like putting ribbons on the campaign, as wonderful as that was for victors Crystal Palace. But, by then, beyond the clubs involved, supporters are either blinded by their own fate or looking ahead to the summer. The Carabao Cup final, in mid-March, is better entwined in the fabric of the season.
Eddie Howe's Newcastle won the Carabao Cup last year and were energised
Liverpool's Wellity Lucky and Amara Nallo speak to Slot during Wednesday night's defeat
On Wednesday night, I was at a sold-out St James' Park for Newcastle's 2-0 win over Tottenham. There were 12 changes between the sides, but so strong is the Premier League, you would not call either team 'weak'. Sandro Tonali, the £55million Italy midfielder, gave his best performance of the season, a demonstration of technical and athletic superiority. Nick Woltemade, the £69m Germany centre-forward, scored for a sixth time in black and white.
It was a big game and a big occasion, far more so than the League Cup used to be or the early rounds of the FA Cup currently are. It was, in fact, a contest of better quality than most of what we see at this stage of the Champions League.
In the press box, word spread of scores from around the grounds. Those goals felt significant and laced with intrigue. Liverpool were 2-0 down at half-time! Wolves were staging a fightback against Chelsea that might save the manager's job! Manchester City were losing at Swansea! Not even on a Premier League Saturday do we have five matches of such interest running at the same time.
And then, immediately afterwards, the quarter-final draw, seizing on the buzz of a proper night of football. It played live on TVs in the pubs around St James' and there was as big a cheer when Fulham at home was revealed as there was for Woltemade's goal. This cup matters, and not just on Tyneside.
That is why Slot got it so wrong. A win would have been a tonic for Liverpool, at a time when they really need it. Instead, they are left with yet another hangover. What they could have done with was the prospect of champagne.
