"I agree with you if you say they deserved to win" - Arne Slot makes claim after Liverpool's loss to Newcastle in EFL Cup final
Arne Slot has admitted that Newcastle United deserved to win against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final. He stated that the two sides were chasing each other, but the game played out exactly how the Magpies wanted.
Speaking to the media after the loss, Slot claimed that his side were not outplayed by Newcastle United but Liverpool did not deserve anything from the game. He added that the Reds were made to defend too many long balls in the game and said via the club's official website:
"We were outplayed in their style, yeah, that’s true. That is what you can call outplayed. Yeah, they won more duels than us. Is that what you mean? Is that outworking? Or is that one of their biggest qualities to play so much [with] aerial duels and to win these physique duels? Outplayed for me is if you don’t touch the ball and they play through you every single time we tried to press them, every time you’re too late. That is for me outplayed. But I agree with you if you say that they deserved to win because the game went in the way they wanted it to go. Yes, they deserved to win, but it wasn’t like we were only running after them. We had to defend a lot of long balls [and] second balls and that’s their strength."
Dan Burn and Alexander Isak scored for Newcastle United to end their 70-year trophy drought. Federico Chiesa scored a consolation for Liverpool in injury time but it was too late for a comeback.
Arne Slot on Liverpool's loss to Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup final
Arne Slot has admitted that he was disappointed with the loss to Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup final. He believes that the two losses in a row were tough to take and said via the club's official website:
"Disappointing result, disappointing performance. So, completely different than I felt after the Paris Saint-Germain game. Losing twice in a row is something I think we do for the first time. But that probably also comes with going into the latter stages of a tournament, so facing Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle in a final are two very good teams, both in their own styles."
Liverpool were touted to win the quadruple this season but are now out of three competitions. They were knocked out of the FA Cup by Plymouth, out of the UEFA Champions League by PSG and now a loss in the Carabao Cup final to Newcastle United. They remain on top of the Premier League table, where they are 15 points ahead with 9 games left in the season.