Liverpool manager, Arne Slot, rejected the 2-1 defeat of his team’s 2-1 defeat against Newcastle United in the EFL Cup final was the product of fatigue after their shooting defeat in Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.
The Reds were the favorites to claim their first slot trophy, which supervised an exceptional first season in charge since he took over from Jurgen Klopp, with Liverpool 12 points away from Arsenal at the top of the Premier League.
But they were canceled by a superb performance from Newcastle, which took an advance of 2-0 through Dan Burn and Alexander Isak before Federico Chiesa pulled one in the downtime.
A disappointing display of Liverpool came five days after letting a first leglift on PSG slide during their last draw, a second thrilling step which ends up going to the penalties, in which Gianluigi Donnarumma shone to send the leaders of Ligue 1.
Liverpool looked without energy on Wembley, but Slot would not cite fatigue as a factor, pointing a direct approach to Newcastle rather than manager Eddie Howe admitted that he had kept near his chest when the two parties met in Anfield last month as the main reason for the resignation of his team.
“Mentally is still difficult to judge,” said slot to journalists when asked if his team was tired.
“Were we mentally or physically tired Tuesday?” No, but this game had nothing to do with the race, this game had only with duels.
“And there was no intensity in terms of race in this game, we cannot even judge him if we were tired physically, yes or no, because we could not support them.
“You can judge a team if they are tired if they support, but there was nothing to press because they played on our press.
“If they got a kick or a free kick, each time they brought it to our last line, which led to many parts.
“The match was therefore slow and not intense, so it is difficult to judge, for me, if we were physically ready. Mentally, it’s difficult.
“If you look at the result and the performances you might feel it [the PSG game] I did something for us, but I prefer to see how the game went, and this game went exactly how they wanted it.
“A fight with lots of duels, and many duels in the air, and if we were playing a football game in the air against them, they probably win nine times because they are stronger in the air than us.”
Liverpool will have time to overcome this week’s disappointment, an international break allowing them to come together before the Merseyside derby with Everton on April 2.
On the question of whether this break had come at one time for his team, Slot said: “We are one of the biggest clubs in the world, Liverpool. But it is not for the first time in their history, or in the last two seasons, that they have lost two games in a row.
“It is part of football, especially if one of them is when you face the best team in Europe at the moment, and the other is facing Newcastle, which is a very strong team in England.
“I would have loved playing next week. But now the situation is that they go to their national teams, where they have two additional games again. Then, it is probably a week and a half before facing Everton, which is again a team that we have already faced. We know how difficult it was. Let’s see. “
