Neil Atkinson’s post-match review for The Anfield Wrap after Liverpool 0 Crystal Palace 3 in the 2025-2026 Carabao Cup at Anfield…
ON THE WHOLE you always have to hope calm heads prevail and you always have to hope Liverpool have calm heads.
The manager chooses calm. He takes no flyers, doesn’t deviate from the plan. Liverpool have a few out at the minute and Liverpool have bigger priorities than reaching their fourth Carabao Cup Final in five years.
He makes his call and I think it is the right one. Aston Villa have no game this week because they went out of this competition in the previous round. Real Madrid have no game this week. They play Saturday night.
There is also no additional pressure on Saturday because of tonight. Because there is already a ton of pressure on Saturday. Liverpool need to win their home games. All of the time they need to win their home games. They go strong and win tonight, they need to win on Saturday just as much.
The only question is what is right for the players and the club and I think he lands calmly and correctly. You may think otherwise. You may think they need playing into form. You may think they can only win the domestic cups this season. You get to think that.
But I don’t. Or rather I trust Arne Slot to have assessed the situation, his senior players, their wants and needs and the moment the club is in ahead of a massive week. On the whole I think you stick with the plan.
This competition is in a funny moment. The prize of winning can come at huge cost. Liverpool could well now be looking at two trips to London ahead of Christmas had they gone through. Then they could be looking at two more midweeks gone in winter, the other side of Christmas.
You can think two things at once – winning trophies and going to Wembley is great *and* the Carabao is a load of hassle which it often isn’t worth. You can also acknowledge this is a privileged position. But you also have to say we’ve won two of the last four and been runners-up.
It’s alright to not want the losses to continue but to be relieved that the fixture list eases and the manager gets to work with his players. I’m gutted Tottenham haven’t gone through against Newcastle precisely because I want that game at Christmas to bend our way.
Regardless, these lads now only leave the north of England three times until New Years Day. Once each against West Ham United, Inter Milan and the aforementioned Tottenham game. After Arsenal away on 7th January they don’t have to return to London this season.
The schedule you can also think two things at once about. It has been both tough and not an excuse. But maybe the manager needed to be almost as bold about Galatasaray as he has been about tonight. You can pick your best team there and lose. We know that because, well…
The contradictory thoughts don’t stop coming. I am delighted that Wataru Endo has played for Liverpool. I love his nature and his professionalism and his determination. But I don’t want to see him play more than 15 minutes for Liverpool in a game that matters.
I used to be the same about Federico Chiesa but he has been above and beyond in terms of natural enthusiasm. Natural enthusiasm is something of a throwback of an idea. Something which comes from a Shankly era. On Saturday I saw the forthcoming Kenny Dalglish documentary by Asif Kapadia. And I can’t stop thinking of Kenny’s smile after a goal. Chiesa feels part of that lineage.
But he has quality and you see it tonight in fits and starts. He never stops moving, indeed perhaps too much, perhaps Liverpool need a focal point and he can’t be that. Chiesa has been unlucky not to have a proper start this season. He should get one by Christmas.
Calvin Ramsey is full of tricks. He is a good right wing-back. Indeed, the wing-back point is fascinating. Liverpool do Palace’s head in a bit for half an hour by matching up. The issue isn’t that this doesn’t work, more that they tire. They are all so short of match fitness and you see it. They need 35 to be 45 and it isn’t. It just isn’t.
The goal kills Liverpool and Ismaila Sarr cuts again and Liverpool are limp. He’s a lovely player, Sarr; a great example of exactly the sort of player which makes the Premier League such a challenge at the moment. I am delighted that he has found a home which suits him down to the ground.
That they get the breakthrough and double down is the very essence of what is good about Palace at the moment. They have a killer instinct to go with everything else good.
Second-half isn’t much of an event. Everyone knows Liverpool don’t carry enough of a threat and the rain hammers down. Kaide Gordon looked a footballer when he emerged. But even then there just isn’t enough to overturn the deficit or to panic Palace.
It’s actually a useful case study. There is a lot to be said for all of Rio, Chiesa and Gordon but that doesn’t add up to more than the sum of its parts against a good Premier League defence. Liverpool are understocked in attack. I’d argue by two.
The red card is bad news for Nallo. It ends the contest. Yeremy Pino should get a goal and a red card but he just gets a goal. Liverpool remain willing to play but it has long ebbed away.
Almost everything in football is defined by what happens next. Intriguingly that now also includes domestic cup finals. Both of today’s sides have done well after last season’s domestic cup finals.
But weirdly for Liverpool this doesn’t include today. Liverpool’s October has been disastrous but this was always a season that would be defined by November and December from the moment the fixture list dropped.
There are no hiding places. See you Saturday night. Hoping to be smiling like Kenny at the end of it. Time for natural enthusiasm in abundance.
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