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Liverpool did not give a good account of themselves as they lost the 2025 Carabao Cup final.

The Reds were favourites to lift the trophy for the third time in four seasons at Wembley, but came up short against Newcastle.

With the Magpies desperate to end a 70-year wait for a trophy, Liverpool simply did not turn up.

Having had a rigorous fixture list recently – and been dumped out of the Champions League by PSG in midweek – there was perhaps good reason for the lethargy within the Liverpool squad.

But this is a cup final, and if you can’t get up for that occasion, then you should not be playing for the Reds.

It wasn’t just those out on the pitch who had a bad day, though, Liverpool head coach Arne Slot also got little right against Newcastle.

And speaking after co-lifting the trophy with Bruno Guimaraes, Magpies defender Kieran Trippier admitted his ‘surprise’ at something Slot and the Reds had done during the game.

Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images

One of the biggest talking points following the game was Slot’s insistence at having Alexis Mac Allister mark Dan Burn for Newcastle’s attacking corners.

It was clearly a mismatch for Mac Allister up against the giant Geordie and despite plenty of warnings, Slot did nothing to change it.

To the surprise of no one, Burn soon scored.

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Slot explained why Mac Allister was asked to mark Burn immediately after the game, but his explanation about zonal marking will not appease anyone.

Trippier was the man who picked the centre-back out to get the game’s opening goal and speaking to CBS Sports Golazo afterwards, the right-back admitted even he was surprised Liverpool did not change things.

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“We work a lot at set plays and Van Dijk’s their biggest threat,” said Trippier when asked about the set-pieces.

“He was always in the middle of the goal so there was a chance to exploit the back post.

To be fair I’m surprised Liverpool didn’t change.”

As well as having an exact plan from set-pieces, Trippier went on to explain what Newcastle had tried to do in order to limit both Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk during the game.

“We talked about it a lot, you have to be brave, go man for man at times,” he said.

Much to ponder for Slot and the Liverpool coaching staff after being found out so easily.


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