Arne Slot singles out Chelsea star as Liverpool boss hits back after another horrorshow

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has lamented his side's squad depth in comparison to Chelsea- as he singled out Estevao as an example - after the Reds crashed out of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.

Slot named an inexperienced XI to face Crystal Palace at Anfield, with three teenagers starting and a further seven on the bench. Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitike, Cody Gakpo, Ryan Gravenberch, Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Alisson and Ibrahima Konate were among the senior campaigners left out of the squad.

The Reds ended up losing 3-0 to a rampant Palace side, with Ismaila Sarr scoring a first-half brace and Yeremy Pino adding a third late on to wrap up a convincing win on Merseyside.

Speaking post-match, Slot cut a frustrated figure and in turn pointed at Liverpool's lack of depth across the squad compared to some of their Premier League rivals, including Chelsea.

"I saw City's line-up and I don't think they had one starter from the weekend," Slot started. "But it felt as if you look at their line-up they played with their 11 starters. So maybe it also gives a little bit of insight - everybody has always said how big of a squad we have.

"When we played Chelsea, I said; 'They're missing eight but they can still bring Estevao in'. We are only missing four players at the moment and already we needed to start with four players under the age of 19. And, after I made two substitutions, we were on six [Under-19s]."

Chelsea boss Maresca made 10 changes to his side to meet Wolves in the Carabao Cup - with Josh Acheampong the only survivor from Saturday's 2-1 defeat against Sunderland. Filip Jorgensen, Malo Gusto, Tosin Adarabioyo, Jorrel Hato, Romeo Lavia, Andrey Santos, Estevao, Facundo Buonanotte, Jamie Gittens and Tyrique George came into the XI.

The Blues were still able to run out 4-3 victors and progress through to the quarter-finals, despite having Robert Sanchez, Wesley Fofana, Reece James, Marc Cucurella, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez, Pedro Neto, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap on the bench, with several others not even in the squad.

Estevao - the player mentioned by Slot - scored Chelsea's third against Wolves. Santos, George and Gittens also found the net for the Blues as they booked a place in round five for the third time in seven years.

Despite winning, Maresca bemoaned that it was a game of two halves. The Blues led 3-0 going into half-time and allowed Wolves back into the game before Gittens wrapped up the win late.

"In the first half, we were very good. It's always complicated to go away and score three goals," he said. "We were playing nice football, creating chances. We didn't concede anything. The game was completely under control at 3-0.

"Second half we were not doing the right things. The first goal we conceded opened the game and gave them a boost and the energy to come back into the game. We panicked a little bit. We could have avoided all three of the goals we conceded.

"But it's part of the journey of this team, this squad, to gain experience to get better and better."