Arne Slot has defended his team selection after Liverpool were eliminated from the Carabao Cup against Crystal Palace.
Slot opted to make TEN changes to the Reds side for the fourth-round tie at Anfield on Wednesday night, with Milos Kerkez the sole survivor from the team that started the 3-2 loss to Brentford last weekend.
Andy Robertson, Joe Gomez, Wataru Endo, Federico Chiesa and Alexis Mac Allister were the senior names included in the starting line-up as Freddie Woodman was handed his competitive debut for the club.
However, the rest of the matchday squad was made up of inexperienced youngsters as the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah, Florian Wirtz, Dominik Szoboszlai and Hugo Ekitike were given the night off.
Ultimately Slot’s decision to not include those big names, at least on the bench, backfired as Palace cruised to a 3-0 victory on Merseyside thanks to a brace from Ismaila Sarr and a strike from Yeremy Pino.
To make matters worse, Liverpool also had youngster Amara Nallo sent-off for a professional foul late on.
However, Slot insists he has no regrets over the team selection, suggesting his squad have struggled to cope with the demanding fixture schedule.
“It is always a blow to lose a game of football, especially if it leads to going out of a competition,” Slot said in his post-match press conference. “But it is the same selection I did tonight as I did last season in rounds like this.”
