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Joelinton of Newcastle United and Dominik Szoboszlai of Liverpool battle for the ball during the Carabao Cup final at Wembley on March 16 2025(Image: Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images)

It has forever been the area of the pitch that so often determines major final.

And so it proved once again at Wembley on Sunday.

The forward line may have horribly misfired but losing the midfield battle did more than anything to ensure Liverpool's hopes of earning the first silverware of Arne Slot's reign ended in massive disappointment, the Reds well beaten by a hugely-motivated Newcastle United side desperate to secure the club's first domestic trophy in 70 years.



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Where Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch and, before the closing quarter, Dominik Szoboszlai all floundered, so the Magpies triumvirate of Joelinton, Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali for the most part flourished.

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It was this area of the field to which Slot was implicitly referring when he pointed out his team had lost too many duels in allowing the game to be played in the manner Newcastle had wanted.

The Liverpool starting midfield made only four tackles, none of which were by Mac Allister.

Privately Liverpool were impressed by the physicality of the Paris Saint-Germain midfield after a first leg in which only the brilliance of Alisson Becker prevented the French side from inflicting a heavy defeat the Reds' overall below-par performance merited.

Liverpool weren't caught out again in the second game, when they largely dominated the engine room before waning considerably during extra time.

And the Reds just didn't have the legs at Wembley to do the job for the most part, particularly in the key midfield area.

How much the Newcastle engine room put into the game was evident during the final 20 minutes when many of their players started to feel the effects.

Besides the triumvirate that started at Wembley, Curtis Jones is the only other midfielder to have started a Premier League game this season.

It was the same in the Champions League with the exception of the dead rubber at PSV Eindhoven in January.

Wataru Endo Endo was largely overlooked during pre-season and Liverpool pursued Real Sociedad's Martin Zubimendi, Slot's preference for possession over raw power soon became apparent.

That the Reds are 12 points clear at the Premier League summit suggests they don't need to rip up such an approach.
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