Arne Slot debunks news surrounding Liverpool’s lack of desire to win the Carabao Cup final against Newcastle
Arne Slot dismissed the idea that Newcastle United were “hungrier” than Liverpool in the EFL Cup final.
Slot watched on as goals from Dan Burn and Alexander Isak put Eddie Howe’s side two goals to the good before Federico Chiesa halved the deficit in second-half stoppage time, but Newcastle held firm to win 2-1 and end a 70-year wait for a major domestic trophy.
It was a disappointing display from the Premier League leaders, who struggled to create any chances of note until substitute Curtis Jones tested Nick Pope after Isak’s goal.
Indeed, Liverpool registered an expected goals (xG) total of just 0.89 from their seven shots, just two of which were on target.
And though Slot conceded that Eddie Howe’s side were deserving winners on the day, the Dutchman claimed that the Magpies’ trophy drought did not give his opponents more motivation.
“It’s 70 years since they’ve last won a trophy maybe, but that’s for the fans,” Slot said.
“The players only have 15 years to play football, and they want to win every single trophy they are competing for. That’s also what we want.
“It was a game that went the way [Newcastle] wanted it to go and they got some extra energy with the goal just before half-time, which they probably deserved after the first 45 minutes because they were threatening us more than we were threatening them. I don’t think there was more hunger from them.”
It marked a disappointing few days for Liverpool, who were knocked out of the Champions League by Paris Saint-Germain on penalties in midweek.
Slot’s sole chance of winning a trophy in his debut season on Merseyside now rests on the Premier League, with the Reds’ lead at the summit now at a healthy 12 points following Arsenal’s 1-0 win over Chelsea earlier on Sunday.
But when questioned about the impact of their defeat to PSG, Slot said it did not hinder his players.
However, he conceded his team played into Newcastle’s hands to an extent.
“Were we mentally or physically tired? No. But this game had nothing to do with running,” he said.
“This game had only to do with duels and there was no intensity in terms of running at all. You can’t even judge it if we were tired. We couldn’t press them.
“You can judge a team if they are tired if they press, but there was nothing to press as they played over our press.
“Disappointing result, disappointing performance. Losing twice in a row is something different [for us], but that is probably also something to do with going to the latter stages of tournaments, facing very tough teams in Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle.
“It was a tough week, but it was also a week when we extended our lead [in the league], so it wasn’t all negative, but the last two games were not the way we wanted them to be.”
Liverpool now have to wait until April 2 to try and make amends for their poor results, with local rivals Everton visiting Anfield.
“I would have loved to have played next week, but now they go to their national teams, and then we face Everton, and we know how tough that will be,” Slot said.
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