Liverpool make Arne Slot sack decision after Carabao Cup exit

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Evening Standard

·30 October 2025

Liverpool make Arne Slot sack decision after Carabao Cup exit

Reds have lost six of their last seven matches and already two trophy chances

Liverpool have made a decision over the future of manager Arne Slot following the club’s Carabao Cup exit.

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Slot has endured a chastening second season in charge of the Reds, coming off the back of a Premier League title win in his debut season and then embarked on an unprecedented summer transfer spending, which saw the club break the British transfer record twice in the same window.

But a 3-2 away defeat at Brentford at the weekend was a fourth Premier League defeat in a row, and Slot followed it up by naming a squad of youngsters and fringe players for Wednesday evening’s Carabao Cup fourth round clash with Crystal Palace, who had already beaten Liverpool twice this season.

A third defeat to Palace followed - and a sixth in seven games - as the Reds’ inexperienced and out-of-form side were swept aside by Oliver Glasner’s men. Ismaila Sarr scored two goals inside four minutes just before half-time, and then Yeremy Pino wrapped up a comfortable win at Anfield after the break.

Andy Robertson appeared to apologise to fans at full-time

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The night got even worse for Liverpool when 18-year-old debutant Amara Nallo was sent off just 12 minutes after coming on. After the game, Slot defended his team selection.

"This club has always used this competition for academy players as well,” he said. "It felt to me the right decision and I've not changed my opinion of that because we lost.

"I've seen the struggles some players have had in pre-season. It's a new challenge to play in the Premier League and Champions League, three games in seven days. Our squad is probably not as big as people think it is. There has not been a change in the way we look at this.”

He added: “I saw Manchester City's starting eleven and they didn't have one starter from the weekend, but it felt like their best team. That is a bit of an insight. Chelsea can bring Estevao in. After I made two substitutions tonight, we had six teenagers.”

Arne Slot now faces Aston Villa, Real Madrid and Man City

Liverpool FC via Getty Images

With their Premier League title defence hanging on by a thread in October, the Carabao Cup would have been seen as the most achievable route to a trophy in Slot’s second season.

Liverpool’s next fixtures do not get any easier, with Aston Villa and Manchester City up next in the Premier League, either side of the visit of Real Madrid in the Champions League.

Popular Liverpool supporter X channel ‘Anfield Watch’, polled their 1.1million followers after the game, asking ‘Is Arne Slot's job now in danger?’ More than 12,000 replied, and over 63 per cent believe he is.

According to the BBC Sport, the Liverpool hierarchy do not agree.

BBC Sport have reported since full-time at Anfield that there is “no chance” of Slot being sacked, insisting that his job is not even under consideration.

A report reads: “Liverpool is a calm club internally, not given to hasty, panicky decisions, certainly not when it involves a manager who won the Premier League last season.

“Liverpool’s owners are measured. They saw Slot win the title in his first season and I am sure there will be an acceptance and understanding that there has also been a lot of change in the summer.”