With Arne Slot’s Liverpool set to face Oliver Glasner’s Crystal Palace in the fourth round match of Carabao Cup at Anfield tonight, it will be only the fifth English Football League Cup meeting between the two sides with the two teams having won two matches each. Liverpool is coming into the match following a 2-3 loss against Brentford last Sunday. The club has only won two of their last eight games against Palace in all competitions since the start of the 2022-23 season. With the club having faced four defeats in their last four Premier League matches, Slot has urged the team to not see the recent form as an excuse and embrace the challenge against Palace in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup.
“It goes without saying that our recent form has not reached the standards that you expect of us or that we expect of ourselves. This is, of course, a major disappointment, especially given the positive start we made to the season. From our perspective, there are no excuses. Yes, we are aware of the reasons and we will discuss them, but the one thing we cannot and will not do is use them as an excuse. Our responsibility is to recognise what is happening and put things right. There is no other option. Part of this process involves being hurt. We should be hurt by results like Saturday’s when we lost to Brentford, and we should use the feelings this creates to further fuel our motivation. Not that anyone could accuse the players of a lack of effort – if anything, the opposite is true – but how we use this effort and desire is what will make the difference. Tonight’s fixture gives us an opportunity to take a step forward, not just in this competition but also in our season as a whole. That it comes against an opponent that continues to prove itself to be very strong means this will be a testing cup tie but, again, this is the kind of challenge that we have to embrace,” Slot wrote on Liverpool FC official website.
The last time the two teams faced in the Premier League, Slot’s team faced a 2-1 loss with Ismaila Sarr and Eddie Nketiah scoring for Palace with Federico Chiesa scoring the solitary goal for the Reds. Nketiah had scored in the 97th minute of the match with Palace handing Liverpool the first of the four consecutive losses this season. The team has conceded first in their last six matches in all competitions and Slot urged the team to impose their game on the opponents.
“Of course, we have already faced Palace in the Premier League this season and the result on that occasion was not what we would have hoped for. Credit to Palace for that. Their winning goal came very late on that occasion after we had equalised following a difficult first half for us, so we should be aware not just of the problems they can cause but also of their ability to keep going until the final whistle. At the time of writing these notes, I have not made a final decision on the squad that we will use for this game – there is a need to train and to check on availability – but whichever players we use have to be ready to face a team like Palace. We also have to work hard to play our football. There has been a lot of discussion about the direction that football has taken in England this season and while this kind of conversation is totally normal, we have to show that not only can we deal with these changes but also that we impose our game on our opponents,” Slot wrote.
The Dutch football manager also insisted that the team has not imposed their style of play against the opponents and the team needs to show it against a team like Palace. “Again, I would be the first to admit that this has not happened enough up to now and we take responsibility for this. At the same time, I do not doubt either the determination or the ability of us to respond in the right way as a team. Saying that is the easy part, though. Now we have to show it. We have seen a lot of each other in recent months as this will be the fourth time we have met since last May, and that is with a summer break in between, so we are well aware of the qualities that Palace will bring. Finally, we also know that the recent period has been very difficult for our supporters, especially those who have travelled to places like Brentford, Chelsea and Palace only for their backing to go unrewarded,” Slot wrote.
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