Liverpool

Atletico Madrid say their 25-year-old Argentine striker Julian Alvarez is not for sale, amid reported interest from Liverpool. (Mirror), external

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Pat Nevin
Former footballer and presenter

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Last week, I had the cheek to say there was at least one area where I didn't agree with Arne Slot. This was the demand that his players go at it 100% for 100% of the time.

His phrase - "I don't want my players to conserve energy" - jarred horribly. No matter how young, fit, dedicated, well paid and willing you are, football players are still only human.

They get tired, they get injured and they have to be managed. The entire Liverpool side at Wembley looked wearied to me, which was perfectly understandable considering the game against Paris St-Germain - 120 gruelling minutes then losing on penalties was physically and mentally exhausting. Mohamed Salah for one looked like a shadow of himself this week, especially when being dominated by the brilliant young Tino Livramento.

So Slot is now having a few question marks nervously raised against his actions. Was having 5ft 9ins Alexis Mac Allister marking 6ft 7ins Dan Burn at corners a good tactic? Demonstrably not on the day. In retrospect, it looks bizarre especially as there was a warning before Burn's goal, when the centre-back effortlessly won an aerial dual at a previous corner kick. What about the personnel changes in the FA Cup that led to Liverpool meekly going out of the FA Cup against Plymouth Argyle?

A harsh critic might even say this is the weakest Premier League in years at the very top end. Arsenal are limited by a lack of forwards, Manchester City are unrecognisably poor in comparison to recent seasons and Chelsea are in flux yet again.

It is of course way harsh on Slot, winning the league in his first season is definitely good enough and getting PSG in the Champions League draw was very unlucky. If the likes of Arsenal were hard on their heels however, maybe those questions would be voiced a little louder.

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French football expert and regular BBC contributor Julien Laurens has played down links between Virgil van Dijk and Paris St-Germain.

The Liverpool captain, who is out of contract this summer, was widely linked with a move to the French giants earlier this week.

But posting on X, external, Laurens wrote: "There is nothing between PSG and Virgil van Dijk. No talks, no negotiations, no 100m signing on fee offer. Nothing. Virgil had a chat with Luis Campos and Nasser Al Khelaifi after the Champions League second leg and it wasn't about his future but about the two games they played."

Jordan Chamberlain
Fan writer

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Liverpool were appalling in the League Cup final defeat by Newcastle on Sunday and fully deserved to lose.

The Magpies won every duel, every battle and seemingly wanted it more. Their fans did, too.

Arne Slot may now be paying for the fact he has barely rotated all season.

Ryan Gravenberch has been run into the ground. He looks a shadow of the player who started the campaign so excellently. Alexis Mac Allister is not a runner and Dom Szoboszlai is extremely tired as well.

Up top, there is no pace in the side. Mohamed Salah has dropped off from the otherworldly level he was playing at until March, while Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz have barely scored since the turn of the year. Cody Gakpo is very, very unfit and while Darwin Nunez has pace and strength, he comes with his own issues.

Slot brought Federico Chiesa and Harvey Elliott on to save the game at Wembley. Both improved us, but they have barely been used all season. Is this a mistake? Hard to say when you're 12 points clear in the Premier League, but the drop-off is worrying and very noticeable.

The international break will at least give Liverpool a chance to clear their heads, if not their legs.

Find more from Jordan Chamberlain at Empire of the Kop, external

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We asked for your views on whether Mohamed Salah's cup final record is his Achilles heel, after the forward failed to record a shot or create a chance for his side in their 2-1 Carabao Cup final defeat to Newcastle United.

Here are some of your thoughts:

Amsa: I cannot believe Salah's contribution is still being questioned - ridiculous! He has single-handedly allowed us to win numerous matches. Without his goals and assists, I suspect we would have really struggled. Despite our recent losses, I'm still super proud of the team!

Andy: There has been far too much made of Salah's performance. The reality is that the ball hardly got to him. He was playing in front of Quansah, who does not come close to the usual quality on the ball that we have on that side. We were also reluctant to play through the midfield for the majority of the game, which didn't help. This is a player who could go on to break a heap of Premier League records this season.

Richard: It's true that Salah didn't score, but neither did Nunez. Not one player played as if they wanted to win. I worry about the league title, even with the lead we have at present. There can be no excuses.

Joe: It's true that Salah's stats suffer in key games, but I think that is a product of him being our main threat and sides focusing their defence solely on him. If Liverpool had a top centre-forward to play alongside him, it would take some pressure and defensive focus off him, spread opposition defences more and benefit both players.

Jason: It's not just Salah, it's Liverpool as a team in cup finals. We don't know how to do things the easy way. I can only remember the second half in Istanbul 2005 where we actually turned up and played like we know we can.

Harry: Salah will undoubtedly go down as a Liverpool legend, but his output in finals is exactly the reason why he won't come close to winning the Ballon d'Or. A player of his quality should be having more of an impact in these games.

Did Sunday's Carabao Cup final defeat for Liverpool pile pressure on their summer transfer business.

Former Premier League striker Chris Sutton said: "That's the big thing isn't it, what do Liverpool look like next season?"

Ex-Premier League midfielder Michael Brown said: "What that recruitment team have done at Bournemouth, now they have changed and gone to Liverpool, I think they will be more than up to the standards of what they want and they have put everything already in order."

Watch a clip on the Reds below or get Monday Night Club in full here

Liverpool have made contact with people close to 25-year-old Newcastle United and Sweden striker Alexander Isak, before a potential summer move. (Fabrizio Romano), external

Wolves are keeping a close eye on Diogo Jota's situation at Liverpool and are weighing up a move to bring the 28-year-old forward back to Molineux this summer. (Teamtalk), external

Bournemouth are confident about beating off competition to sign 26-year-old Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher this summer. (Sun), external

The Reds are planning to spend more than £250m this summer on signing Atletico Madrid striker Julian Alvarez, RB Leipzig midfielder Xavi Simons and Inter Milan defender Alessandro Bastoni. (Fichajes - in Spanish), external

Liverpool are one of the clubs monitoring Bayer Leverkusen right-back Jeremie Frimpong, as they see the 24-year-old right-back as a potential replacement for Trent Alexander-Arnold. (Caught Offside), external

Liverpool are ahead of Chelsea, Newcastle United and Tottenham in the race to sign 24-year-old Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi. (Football Insider), external

Meanwhile Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City have all been watching River Plate's 17-year-old Argentine winger Franco Mastantuono, who has a release clause of about £35m. (Teamtalk), external

Want more transfer news? Read Tuesday's full gossip column

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Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk says "good things" await the Reds if they can "turn" their fortunes after a testing spell.

Van Dijk featured as Liverpool exited the Champions League on penalties against Paris St-Germain and lost the Carabao Cup final at Wembley in a difficult few days for the club.

But the Reds still top the Premier League by 12 points with only 27 left to play for, with their next fixture set for 2 April when they host Everton at Anfield.

Van Dijk told BBC Radio Merseyside: "We have to turn this around [PSG and Newcastle defeats].

"It's how football works. In five days you lose twice and the world is sinking - sort of. Two weeks before everything was sunshine and rainbows.

"Now everyone goes to their respective countries, play there, hopefully stay fit and then we have a couple of days to settle down and then we train and we have to be ready for Everton at home which is going to be tough.

"There's a lot at stake - good things - we're in a good position. There are so many positive and good things to look forward to. We play for the Premier League - the most difficult prize to get.

"In my opinion, one of the toughest Premier League seasons there is in the last couple of years in terms of everyone can win from each other so it's very difficult."

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Alongside his team-mates, it was a difficult day for Liverpool talisman Mohamed Salah at Wembley on Sunday.

In the 2-1 loss to Newcastle, the forward failed to record a shot or create a chance for his side.

But, in a season in which his incredible Premier League form looks set to take the Reds to a title in Arne Slot's first campaign in charge, a bad day at the office can be forgiven.

However, was it just an off-day? Or a familiar tale for Salah?

There is no question that the Egypt captain's goals and assists have been crucial on a number of occasions on route to cup finals, but when he gets there, there seems to be a struggle to produce the same numbers.

In seven major cup finals for Liverpool (not including Community Shields and European Super Cups), Salah has scored just the one goal - a penalty against Tottenham in the 2018-19 Champions League final - and not provided an assist.

The penalty means he has failed to score a goal from open play in any of those finals.

Salah has been unfortunate on a couple of those occasions, being forced off through injury in the 2018 Champions League final defeat by Real Madrid and in the first half of the Reds' 2022 FA Cup final penalty shoot-out win over Chelsea.

Salah's statistics and records speak for themselves and there is no doubt he will go down in history as one of Liverpool's greats - but is this record in cup finals (both for club and country) the one chink in Salah's impressive armour?

How do you feel about Salah's record in finals, Liverpool fans? Is it a frustration? Or do his goal contributions elsewhere mean this record can be forgiven?

Let us know

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Former Liverpool goalkeeper David James says Liverpool "can suffer" Carabao Cup final defeat to Newcastle given their position in the Premier League.

He told BBC Radio 5 Live: "The best team on the day won and that's why we love the cup, you never know who's going to win until that final whistle and I don't think there can be any complaints about the way Newcastle and Eddie's team went about it - that's football.

"I think fortunately Liverpool, with the Premier League position at the moment, can suffer it. It would be very different if it was something that had cost the only trophy option that they have got this season."

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Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk on Instagram: "First of all congratulations to everyone at Newcastle United. It's been a difficult and disappointing week for us, and it's very hard for me to put it in to words right now. Only thing I can say is that we want to bounce back, and we will."

David Brindle
BBC Sport

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In the space of a week, the Arne Slot machine that was cruising in three competitions, has ground to a halt.

After exiting the Champions League to Paris Saint Germain and losing to Newcastle United in the League Cup final, Liverpool's sole focus is maintaining their lead at the summit of the Premier League to win silverware this season.

In a campaign that started with little expectation, after Jurgen Klopp's departure, the feeling amongst supporters shifted vastly, due to the nature of the performances at the start of the campaign.

Sunday's defeat is just the sixth since the new head coach arrived. Yet the feeling is Liverpool are now akin to a sports car that has started to run out of fuel.

It's a familiar story. Last season, after winning the League Cup, the club faltered in all other competitions and eventually ended the season with one trophy.

History is repeating itself. The lack of energy and fight at Wembley highlighted a problem: a lack of depth in midfield and defensively, which is now starting to cost them.

Liverpool ended the second leg against PSG with Endo - a defensive midfielder - at centre back, while Jarell Quansah was at right-back due to a lack of available players in that position.

Assuming Curtis Jones is your first available option to bring in for the starting midfield three of Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominic Szoboszlai, the options past that aren't of the same standard.

There's been little room to rotate in that area due to the drop off in quality and that is starting to show.

That lack of quality depth must be addressed to avoid making similar mistakes.

Thiago, Diogo Jota and Kostas Tsimikas were brought in on the back of winning the Premier League in 2020.

Jota's arrival has been a quality bit of business, and Tsimikas provides competition at left back, but Thiago didn't hit the heights you'd expect consistently.

After winning the Champions League in 2019, the signings in the summer included Sepp van den Berg, whose LFC career saw him make three starts before being sold on for a sizable profit, Harvey Elliott - who could be set to follow a similar path - Andy Lonergan and Adrian. Takumi Minamino arrived in January.

Without further investment, a title win this season could become an anomaly. The best time to improve is when you're still on top. Just ask Manchester City - who next season you expect to return to being title challengers, as well as the other teams around that top four race all looking to improve.

Under Klopp, the team fought on all four fronts a couple of times. The reality is the squad isn't that far off being able to do that.

The last thing Liverpool should want is to go backwards and end up scrapping for a Champions League place.

It's a good job they have a healthy lead in the league because they are currently stuttering towards the Premier League title.

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Andy Robertson says Liverpool "didn't use the ball well enough" in Sunday's Carabao Cup final defeat to Newcastle.

The Reds dominated possession with 66% but only managed seven shots to the Magpies' 17 and rarely threatened before Federico Chiesa's late goal.

"I don't think we got into our rhythm," Robertson told Total Sport Merseyside's Mike Hughes. "I don't think we played our game, which is hugely frustrating when you play a final.

"Credit to Newcastle. Their game plan worked and they were perfect and were far from perfect.

"We had to get the ball down and play and we didn't do that. We need to analyse it when we come back, it's still too fresh and too raw to really know what went wrong."

Although Arne Slot's side had suffered Champions League disappointment earlier in the week, Robertson rejected suggestions there was a hangover at Wembley.

"I don't think so," he added. "We had enough time to recover from that.

"You have to get yourself up for cup finals. I just think we maybe played into their hands a little bit. We maybe played too many long balls and it turned into a second-ball fight which Newcastle are so good at.

"But I don't think we played to the levels that we've been used to this season."

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We asked for your thoughts after Liverpool lost the Carabao Cup final to Newcastle.

Here are some of your comments:

James: Poor performance which had been coming for a while. When Salah doesn't perform it highlights how poor our other forwards are. Don't understand how Jota, Diaz and Nunez are getting game time ahead of Chiesa. Newcastle wanted it more - I think that's worrying as we have tough games left in the league. We need to find that spark again or this could get messy. Newcastle deserved the win spo well done to them.

Jimmy: On this occasion we were outdone by the tactics Newcastle employed. We were second best the entire game and Newcastle fully deserved the victory. They were like an unforgiving rash.

Michael: Liverpool didn't turn up.

Jason: This was a very disappointing performance from us. Newcastle United were up for it, we weren't and we were soundly beaten. The scoreline flatters us immensely. This has been a chastening week for us. We know we are not the best team in Europe. We need the international break to reset ourselves. We have nine games to prove that we are the best team in England. Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys!

Sarah: Newcastle thoroughly deserved to win - we didn't play our normal game. We were too rushed with passes going astray, Diaz didn't take Trippier on when he had the beating of him. Jota missing in action and no idea what happened to Mo as he was starved of decent service throughout the game. The players seemed tired so maybe the starting line-up should've included Elliott and Jones while Gakpo was not match fit. Virgil van Dijk held the team together but it was beyond him today.

Paul: Very disappointing display, Newcastle fully deserved the win. We badly missed Trent Alexander-Arnold's creativity. One slight complaint about Arne Slot is he doesn't change the team enough. It showed. Still, if we can win the league, it's an amazing season and the one prize every fan would have taken above anything else without question.

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Newcastle "smothered" Liverpool "and made the players think they were tired" says former Reds left-back Stephen Warnock.

"They played extra time on Wednesday against Paris St-Germain and immediately Newcastle put them on the back foot and made them feel heavy-legged," Warnock told BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast.

"They smothered them and made it difficult for them.

"After the week Liverpool have had, I wonder if Arne Slot might look back and think one of the biggest lessons was not making more changes for the Southampton game.

"They were 13 points clear going into that game and they made just three changes. Would he have made more looking back now? The league will take care of itself over the course of time and they are still good enough to see it through, but this Liverpool team looked tired at Wembley.

"But credit to Newcastle because they preyed on that and made the most of it."

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Liverpool have fallen behind Arsenal and Chelsea in the race to sign Inter Milan and France striker Marcus Thuram, 27, who is reported to have a £71m release clause. (Football Insider), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Monday's full gossip column

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Liverpool boss Arne Slot, speaking to Sky Sports about his side's defeat to Newcastle in the Carabao Cup final: "The game went their way in the sense that we played the game in the way they would want.

"There was a lot of free-kicks, set-pieces and they are and were today very strong at that. That also led to the first goal.

"The second goal was a cross from the side and they are taller, maybe stronger in the headed duals. Both goals came from that.

"We have to be better with the ball which is not so easy, the moments when you have the ball you have to create more and you are always waiting for a moment where the game can go your way and more space can open up.

"Normally in a game like this in the end of the first half and in the second half it opens up a bit more but we gave them the positive mindset of being 1-0 up and not long after the break they made it 2-0.

"Then, they're just going to fight harder for every ball and we did have one or two chances but altogether Newcastle deserved the win."

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Former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock, speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live:

"Mo Salah was poor, he struggled in the game. He did not turn up at all today.

"Newcastle were brilliant and they smothered Liverpool, they made it difficult for them. Don't forget how many players Liverpool threw forward towards the end It looked in doubt towards the end, but they deserve this.

"Whether they were tired from the game against Paris St-Germain in the week - I'm not giving them that excuse, they don't deserve that excuse. You have to give all that credit to Newcastle, the way they set themselves up nullified Liverpool and they were outstanding."

"Virgil Van Dijk stood at the Newcastle huddle at full-time. He went around and shook every player's hand. He respected what Newcastle have done today. Class. A sign of respect for Newcastle."

Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher, speaking on Sky Sports:

"Newcastle didn't just win today, they battered Liverpool.

"I find it difficult to be too critical, given what Liverpool look like they will go on to achieve.

"Newcastle are a great Premier League team and they have wiped the floor with them today. I'm gutted Liverpool didn't win today but if there is any team you would accept losing to, it's Newcastle."

Were you at the game or following from elsewhere?

What went wrong for Liverpool?

Tell us what made the difference for Newcastle

Come back to this page on Monday to find a selection of your replies