With the game still at 0-0, Alan Shearer was shown on the big screens at the Carabao Cup final, closely followed by Steven Gerrard. Barely had Liverpool finished serenading its former captain when Newcastle made it 1-0, and it was the Geordie legend who ended the match the happier of the two.
Struggling to seize control of the contest, it was also Liverpool who missed its old player the most. The bite of Gerrard in midfield would have been very welcome at Wembley, whereas Alexander Isak has been producing performances for Newcastle of which Shearer in his pomp would have been proud.
There is no doubt that Arne Slot is having an excellent debut season at Anfield, but he is contending with much the same problems as Jurgen Klopp before him. The group is beginning to run out of steam, and Newcastle was able to play the final on its own terms.
Shearer said as much in his post-match verdict. While giving some praise to Liverpool, he credited Newcastle with a dominant performance:
“I know I’m p****d but…,” Shearer began on X. “Liverpool are a great club and will win the league and have been brilliant this season but the Geordies absolutely smashed them today and deserved it…”
Few Liverpool fans would be rushing to disagree with that. It was a largely limp display at Wembley, and the Reds only mustered any kind of fight once the scoreboard already read 0-2.
The frustration will be that Newcastle didn’t even have to be that good. Credit certainly goes to Eddie Howe and the players for how they executed a game plan, but the Liverpool side of even a few weeks ago would surely have won here.
That’s the most worrying part about Shearer’s verdict. He’s right that Liverpool “has been brilliant” this season, but the past tense is indisputable — while Slot’s men arguably exited the Champions League with a modicum of pride and spirit, it conceded its grip on the Carabao Cup with little more than a whimper.
(Image: Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
Focus now turns on making sure the other part of Shearer’s assessment is true. Liverpool needs to make certain that it does see out the Premier League title from here.
It would take an historic collapse for that not to happen — as it happens, only Newcastle can make a case to have thrown it away in similarly drastic circumstances, way back in the 1990s. But the onus is on Liverpool to prove that the wheels have not completely come off.
There is a break of sorts now, although many of Slot’s charges will be away on international duty. The first game back after these windows used to be the scourge of Klopp, and Liverpool will not be eased back into things — it takes on Everton, who will be all too eager to make things a little nervy at Anfield.
Liverpool has earned its comfortable 12-point cushion with some truly excellent performances and results up to now. If it can dust itself down and finish the job, then this final will become little more than a blip in an excellent campaign, albeit one that has exposed the need to invest in a squad truly capable of going the distance on multiple fronts in future.
