After Arne Slot suggests Crystal Palace beat weakened Liverpool side in Carabao Cup, Oliver Glasner hits back by calling it ‘disrespectful’

Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner disagreed with his Liverpool counterpart Arne Slot's comments after their EFL Cup meeting at Anfield. The Eagles defeated a much-rotated Reds side by three unanswered goals to qualify for the competition's quarterfinals in style.

In a chat with reporters after the game, Slot hinted that he had been forced to heavily rotate his squad and field a weakened team due to a lack of depth. Austrian manager Glasner was having none of Slot's 'disrespectful' comments, and made his point in a response after the game.

“I’ve seen Joe Gomez play for England, win the Champions League, seen Wataru Endo I don’t know how many games for Japan, I’ve seen Alexis Mac Allister, he won the World Cup as a starter, Kerkez moved for £40m, [Federico] Chiesa plays for the [Italy] national team, Ngumoha has shown he can score goals in the Premier League.

It was still a good team and everyone is a member of the Liverpool squad. I was never good enough to be in the Liverpool squad. Maybe it was not the strongest team, but still a very good Liverpool side," he said (via AS).

Liverpool had two debutants, Kieran Morrison and Freddie Woodman, in the starting XI for the game. They also had defender Calvin Ramsay, who was playing his first game for the club in three years, 18-year-old midfielder Trey Nyoni and 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha in the lineup.

Arne Slot did not name a single regular on the bench for the game, with the likes of Wellity Lucky, Kaide Gordon, Trent Kone-Doherty, and Amara Nallo coming off the bench in the second period. Lucky and Kone-Doherty were debutants, while Nallo had only previously played one senior game for the club. The likes of Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Dominik Szoboszlai, Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Cody Gakpo, and a host of others were given the night off.

Crystal Palace struck twice in five minutes at the end of the first half through Ismaila Sarr before Nallo was sent off in the second half. The Eagles then added a third through Spain international Yeremi Pino to seal the win.

Under-fire Liverpool boss hints at weekend return for injured star

Liverpool's under-fire coach Arne Slot has revealed that midfielder Ryan Gravenberch could be available for the side this weekend. The Dutchman was once again absent as his teammates were handed a 3-0 humbling in front of their fans against Crystal Palace.

Slot revealed to reporters after the game that former Bayern Munich midfielder Gravenberch could feature against Aston Villa. He went on to state that he has no such guarantees about any of the other injured stars, and will be keeping an eye on how things progress.

"Ryan [Gravenberch] has a good chance [of being back for the weekend]. The other ones, let's wait and see," he said (via liverpool.com).

Gravenberch suffered an ankle injury in his side's 2-1 defeat to Manchester United in the Premier League earlier this month. The 23-year-old has missed each of their last three games, and his absence has been sorely felt by his team. His return against Villa will provide a boost for the squad.