Arne Slot's MAJOR Carabao Cup final error

Liverpool are in a rut and after a relatively seamless maiden season so far, Arne Slot has some real questions to answer.

His team were outplayed and outclassed today in the Carabao Cup final against Newcastle, and for a campaign that had so much promise, a big grey cloud now looms about the squad, the players and some of the tactics being implemented.

Liverpool Transfer News: Slot goes public as £60m star CHOOSES Reds

Make no mistake about it, this Liverpool side should still take home the Premier League title this season, and that is no small feat, adding a twentieth title to the trophy cabinet, becoming the team with the most first division titles in England.

READ MORE: Why Liverpool will SHATTER their transfer record for Julian Alvarez

But in order to secure the league, Slot's side still need 16 points from the remaining nine games, unless Arsenal fall even further behind, and this Liverpool team's flaws are finally being bared, leaving fans nervous for the remainder of the campaign and the so promised 'summer of change' when the transfer window opens.

The once positive and awe-inspiring outlook of the team is now one of concern and while the players should take the brunt of the blame for that, Slot is not innocent in all of this.

Slot's stubbornness costs Liverpool a chance at silverware

When Liverpool played the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie against Paris Saint-Germain a few weeks ago, the team was as follows, Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konate, Virgil Van Dijk, Andy Robertson, Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota.

The performance - having had a week off because of the FA Cup taking place at the weekend - was dreadful, as Liverpool snatched a win in the dying moments as substitute Elliott came on and scored with the team's 2nd shot of the game.

Three days later, Liverpool hosted Southampton at Anfield in the Premier League, and despite making hard work of it, a 3-1 win was eventually secured, as Salah scored two penalties after Nunez restored parity with the Saints. Slot made three changes, with Kostas Tsimikas coming on for Robertson, Curtis Jones replacing Mac Allister and Darwin Nunez leading the line.

Then, three days after that, Liverpool hosted PSG and lost after 120 minutes of play on penalties, with exactly the same 11 players that had scampered over the line against the same opposition a week earlier.

And then we come to today, the illustrious Carabao Cup final, with the Reds attempting to win a record-extending eleventh trophy in their 15th final appearance. One hour before kick off, the fans look down at their phones and what do they see? Exactly the same team that failed to break down PSG, except for Quansah at right-back as an enforced change, and Kelleher returning as the goalkeeper responsible for the domestic cups.

It should be no surprise that the same players are continuing to fail for us, and Slot continuing to pick them, time and time again is concerning.

Throughout this mini four-game period, the team has been battling with a couple of injuries which must be taken into account - Conor Bradley and Joe Gomez are missing for the foreseeable and Trent went off against PSG at Anfield, which enforced the Quansah change to the XI today.

However, certain players are being repeatedly played without any consequence for poor performance, or rotation to keep the team fresh. Mac Allister and Szoboszlai, for example, have each started over 30 games this season in all competitions, whereas Jones has just 21 starts.

Likewise, while Elliott was injured for most of the first few months, he has just two starts for the Reds this season. 19 appearances, and just two starts. Mind-boggling.

And then we come to Federico Chiesa, who scored Liverpool's only goal today - two starts and nine appearances in total. A reminder that we bought him for £15m this past summer, he's only 27 years old, and he's not been given a sniff of a chance to show what he can do.

Slot confirmed his mistake not to start them by his decision to sub them on.

To put it simply, Liverpool's best three players today, were those who often get snubbed by Slot, and while Liverpool fans up and down the country will be fuming and quite frankly embarrassed by the performance of the team today, those players deserve the utmost respect.

READ MORE: Michael Edwards lining up DREAM double deal for Liverpool

Only nine games are left in the season, and as mentioned earlier, only five wins and a draw are required for the Premier League title to be secured, which will be a huge achievement for this team after falling short last season, but the players who rarely get a chance need to be given opportunities going forward, and when all is said and done, we can have a frank and honest assessment of each of the players.

EXCLUSIVE: Liverpool line up club record bid for Julian Alvarez