Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy has emphatically dismissed the notion that Arne Slot’s squad “bottled” the Carabao Cup final, responding to fellow pundit Martin Keown’s criticism of the Reds.
The 2-1 defeat to Newcastle occurred shortly after Liverpool’s exit from the Champions League at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain, leaving the Premier League as their sole remaining chance for silverware.
Slot had been eyeing a haul of trophies after leading his team to the top of their Champions League group and smoothly reaching the Carabao Cup final. However, Liverpool’s aspirations were dashed at Wembley by goals from Dan Burn and Alexander Isak.
Keown’s old team Arsenal is still Liverpool’s main competitor in the league race. Despite having nine matches left to play, Arsenal trails by 12 points – a daunting gap, especially with the Gunners not at their strongest.
Arsenal’s history of faltering in trophy pursuits, particularly during the 2022-23 title chase, hasn’t gone unnoticed. Mikel Arteta’s squad was five points ahead with nine games remaining last season but ended up trailing five points behind the champions Manchester City.
“If this was Arsenal, losing two major games, you’d say they bottled it,” Keown remarked on talkSPORT regarding Liverpool’s back-to-back cup losses. “They’ve just gone out of the Champions League and lost a cup final.”
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Murphy dismissed the comparison outright a couple of days later. “It’s a ridiculous comparison, I don’t even know where Martin was going with it,” he contended.
“How can you compare? Liverpool have been in the league cup final three out of the last four years. Won it last year.”
“There’s no bottling going on to lose a cup final or a cup competition. Even in the Champions League, they drew over 180 minutes and lost on penalties.”
Liverpool is set to pick up their Premier League action once more when they face Everton on April 2, aiming to cross the finish line triumphantly. They will encounter six London clubs in eight of their remaining games, which includes a crunch clash with Arsenal at Anfield on May 10.
Slot remained positive despite the defeat at Wembley. “Like I said from the start, it took us seven, eight [or] nine months to lose twice in a row and that happens against two teams; one of them is fighting for Champions League, Newcastle is a very good team [and] we knew this already at St. James’ Park, and the other one is Paris Saint-Germain,” he explained.
“Probably if you can beat us in that style of play you are probably the best in Europe at the moment.”
“They still have to show if they still can do this in the upcoming two or three months. But I want to make clear one more time that the week started off really well by us beating Southampton.
“That’s why we extended our lead to 12 points [in the Premier League] with nine games to go. You know if you go far in tournaments that the opposition you face gets stronger and stronger. Even Liverpool can lose football games, that’s what can happen.”
