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LONDON : It has taken Liverpool manager Arne Slot eight months to lose two games in a row and the Dutchman was in no mood to let Sunday’s League Cup final defeat by Newcastle United turn a blip into a full-blown crisis.
The 2-1 loss at Wembley compounded a difficult week for Slot’s Liverpool, who exited the Champions League in the last 16 to Paris St Germain in a crushing penalty shootout defeat on Tuesday.
Yet while two shots at silverware had evaporated in the space of six days, a healthy 12-point lead atop the Premier League ensured Slot was not in panic mode.
“We are here, one of the biggest clubs in the world, Liverpool, but it’s not for the first time in their history or in the last two seasons that they’ve lost two games. This is part of playing football,” he told reporters at Wembley.
“It was a tough week, but it was also a week where we extended our (Premier League) lead to 12 points from maybe 10. So it wasn’t all negative but, yeah, the last two were definitely not the way we wanted it to be.”
Liverpool were flat from the first whistle at Wembley and the energy and pressing that had characterised their campaign so far was nowhere to be seen in contrast to Newcastle, who seemed to be feeding greedily off the intensity of their own fans.
Slot’s side mustered little after goals from Dan Burn and Alexander Isak in each half gave Newcastle a comfortable advantage and Federico Chiesa’s added-time effort was barely a consolation for the Merseysiders who had been second-best.
While the Liverpool manager was reluctant to admit his side were outplayed, he conceded they deserved to lose to Newcastle, who he said had succeeded in playing the game on their terms.
“I prefer to look at how the game went and this game went exactly the way they wanted it to be,” he said.
“A fight with a lot of duels and a lot of duels through the air. And if we play 10 times a game of football through the air against them, they win it nine times because they are a stronger team through the air than us.”
STAYING POWER
A second straight Liverpool defeat in a matter of days has not only removed another chance of silverware but has left them wobbling at the business end of the season, traditionally when great teams come into their own.
The loss will raise questions of the staying power of Liverpool’s squad after they suffered a blip at roughly the same stage last year.
That ensured former manager Juergen Klopp finished his final season with only the League Cup to celebrate after they had led the Premier League heading into the spring and at one stage eyed a potential quadruple.
Slot’s first campaign has brought lashings of praise for how well he has taken on Klopp’s mantle and not just kept Liverpool on the rails but lifted them to the next level, polishing a promising collection of players to the point where they look almost certain to be crowned English champions.
This week has taken some of the shine off his debut season and he will be eager to snuff out talk of a wobble as quickly as possible with the league title within touching distance.
“It’s part of football,” he added. “If you face strong teams, you can lose as well, but ideally you go through the whole season only winning, winning, winning. But yeah, it can happen that you also lose twice in a row.”
