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Arne Slot walks with Virgil van Dijk at the end of the Carabao Cup Final between Liverpool and Newcastle United at Wembley Stadium on March 16, 2025(Image: Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images)

Liverpool's hopes of an 11th League Cup disintegrated at Wembley on Sunday afternoon as Newcastle United won 2-1 to secure their first domestic trophy for 70 years.

The reactions of Arne Slot and Eddie Howe were also covered at length in their post-match press conferences.

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Our colleagues from the national media were also on hand to give their own considered takes and here's what they all made of it on what was a famous day for Newcastle and one to quickly forget for Slot and his players.



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The Telegraph's Chris Bascombe writes: "Finals expose flaws.

The shock for Liverpool is they may not have realised how many they have to fix until witnessing their most insipid cup final appearance in memory.

"There have been occasions when they knowingly carried a passenger into a showpiece game and paid the price, the zones of improvement obvious after goalkeeping mishaps (Champions League 2018) or individual defensive calamities (Europa League 2016).

"When assessing the debris of a horrible Wembley afternoon for the club, Fenway Sports Group’s chief executive, Michael Edwards, his sporting director Richard Hughes and manager Arne Slot must conclude a less obvious one has come to the fore during the European exit and Carabao Cup final humbling.

"The team which has scored over 100 goals this season is suddenly looking in need of a creative workshop and a summer in finishing school.

This was Liverpool as the ultimate contradiction, possessing one of the most lethal goalscorers in the world but – for 95 minutes – reducing Newcastle United’s Nick Pope to the role of spectator to such an extent he could have watched alongside Ant and Dec."

Paul Joyce, of The Times, muses: "Liverpool had never previously lost back-to-back matches under Slot but, from a long way out, he would have seen this one coming.

Somehow the Liverpool defence failed to register the vast, ambling figure inside the penalty area, with its distinctive, undulating way of moving, like a friendly CGI diplodocus in a Disney movie."

And in the ECHO's own verdict: "Arne Slot had denied it and Virgil van Dijk bristled at the mere suggestion.

But with Champions League heartache in the rearview and the likelihood of a Premier League triumph still to come, this, it seems, simply mattered more to Newcastle United.

"It would be hugely unfair to be too critical of the overall efforts in a campaign that sees Liverpool now at the March international break with a 12-point advantage over Arsenal at the summit, but Slot must use these past few days, in whatever way he can, as an exercise in learning.

"It's been the worst week of the Dutchman's short reign so far on Merseyside but the damage, however much it will hurt for the coming week or so, remains largely cosmetic.
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