Slot Denies Newcastle Had More Desire but Accepts Their Carabao Cup Victory
Slot Dismisses Motivation Talk but Acknowledges Newcastle’s Deserved Victory
Newcastle United secured their first domestic trophy in 70 years with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Liverpool in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final at Wembley. Goals from Dan Burn and Alexander Isak sealed a historic win for Eddie Howe’s side, despite a late scare from substitute Federico Chiesa, who pulled one back for Liverpool in stoppage time.
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot dismissed suggestions that Newcastle’s players had more motivation to win but conceded that the Magpies were deserved winners.
“It’s 70 years since they’ve last won a trophy maybe, but that’s for the fans,” Slot said post-match. “The players only have 15 years to play football, and they want to win every single trophy they are competing for. That’s also what we want. It was a game that went the way [Newcastle] wanted it to go, and they got some extra energy with the goal just before half-time, which they probably deserved after the first 45 minutes because they were threatening us more than we were threatening them. I don’t think there was more hunger from them.”
The defeat capped off a disappointing week for Liverpool, who were eliminated from the Champions League on penalties by Paris Saint-Germain in midweek. Slot acknowledged the difficult stretch but highlighted the team’s overall strong position in the Premier League.
“Disappointing result. Disappointing performance. Completely different from how I felt after the PSG game. Losing twice in a row is something I think we’ve done for the first time, but that probably also comes with going into the latter stages of a tournament,” he said. “PSG and Newcastle are two very good teams, both in their own styles. We already knew from the game at St James’ Park how difficult it is to beat [Newcastle]. It was a tough week, but it was also a week when we extended our lead to 12 points, so it wasn’t all negative. But the last two were definitely not what we wanted.”
Liverpool will now have a 17-day break before their next fixture against Everton on April 2, as many of their players depart for international duty. Slot admitted he would have preferred to return to action sooner.
“I would have loved to play next week, but now the situation is that they go to their national teams where they have to play two more games again. Then it is a week before we face Everton, who are again a team we have already faced, and we know how difficult that one was,” Slot said.
Newcastle’s triumph marks a significant milestone in their resurgence under Howe, while Liverpool will look to regroup as they continue their pursuit of the Premier League title.
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