Liverpool’s Treble Dream Ends in 36 Days: FA Cup, Champions League, and Carabao Cup Exit

Liverpool’s season, which once promised an unprecedented treble, has unravelled in dramatic fashion. In just over a month, the Reds have seen their hopes in three major competitions extinguished.

The FA Cup, Champions League, and Carabao Cup exits have left the club with only the Premier League to fight for—a stark contrast to the euphoria that surrounded Anfield earlier in the campaign.

Carabao Cup Heartbreak at Wembley

Liverpool’s downfall began with their Carabao Cup final loss to Newcastle United at Wembley. Newcastle, a side historically plagued by cup final disappointments, managed to overturn their misfortunes in convincing fashion. Dan Burn’s towering header secured the win, marking a fairytale moment for the local lad who once faced rejection from his boyhood club.

Arne Slot, however, dismissed fatigue as a factor in the defeat. “It had nothing to do with running,” he insisted, pointing instead to his team’s failure to win key duels. Despite his claims, Liverpool’s struggles in physical battles have been evident. The game against Newcastle was just one of several instances where their intensity dropped, a worrying trend that would only continue.

Champions League Collapse Against PSG

Liverpool’s European ambitions came to a crashing halt in the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain. Over two legs, they struggled to impose themselves, culminating in a record-low duel success rate of just 32.5% in the first leg—an all-time worst for the club in the competition. Even in the return fixture at Anfield, where Liverpool has historically thrived, they failed to recover, winning just 42.7% of duels.

The drop in physicality has been stark. Before the turn of the year, Liverpool won over 50% of their duels in half their Premier League games. Since then, they have only managed that feat in two of 11 matches. Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher summed it up bluntly: “Liverpool’s legs have run out of steam. Set-piece wise, duels in the middle of the park and for pace, Liverpool couldn’t cope.“

FA Cup Exit Caps a Disastrous Run

With the Carabao Cup and Champions League dreams shattered, the FA Cup offered one last hope for a domestic double. However, Liverpool’s campaign came to an unceremonious end, with another underwhelming performance sealing their fate.

The midfield, which had been the backbone of their dominance earlier in the season, looked fatigued. Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister, once crucial figures, now struggled to impose themselves. Even Mohamed Salah, usually the beacon of reliability, appeared off his game.

Slot’s Rotation Policy: A Double-Edged Sword

Slot could argue, with some justification, that his conservative approach to rotation has helped Liverpool build their commanding position at the top of the Premier League. He has leaned heavily on his best players, yes. But they have delivered, mostly staying fit and putting Liverpool on track for a 90-point campaign.

There were always questions, though, over the sustainability of such a policy, and the recent slump highlights the dangers. Liverpool’s average of 1.76 line-up changes per game in the Premier League is the seventh-lowest in the division this season and makes them an outlier compared to recent title winners. The last seven sides to have won the title, dating back to Manchester City in 2017/18, have averaged 2.79 line-up changes per game.

Those sides were able to maintain freshness until the end, in most cases, but Liverpool now find themselves with too many players having played too many minutes. Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah, Ryan Gravenberch, and Alexis Mac Allister have all played more than 3,000 minutes. There are others not far behind them.

In fact, with Dominik Szoboszlai, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson, Luis Diaz, and Ibrahima Konate also close to that threshold, Liverpool have nine players in the top 50 for minutes played by Premier League players in all competitions this season. No other side has more than six.

Some, of course, such as Salah and Van Dijk, are accustomed to such a heavy workload. But even they are not immune to fatigue, as their recent form shows, and it is new to others.

Gravenberch’s minutes have increased by a whopping 46% this season. With two months of the campaign still to go, Konate has already played more minutes than he did in the whole of last term. Mac Allister is on course to comfortably exceed his total for last season too.

All of those players, like Van Dijk and even Salah, have looked understandably heavy-legged at times recently and struggled to maintain their consistency in the second half of the season.

It is no coincidence that those behind them in the pecking order, far fresher having been used so sparingly over the course of the campaign, have made the biggest contributions in recent weeks.

Liverpool’s winning goal in Paris came from Darwin Nunez setting up Harvey Elliott. Substitutes combined for their goal at Wembley too, with Elliott playing the pass to release Federico Chiesa.

Elliott, though, has played a paltry 583 minutes in all competitions this season, down from 2,786 last term, while Chiesa has played even fewer—just 387 minutes following his arrival from Juventus in August.

It might simply be the case that Slot doesn’t rate the majority of his squad players. They are not his players, after all, with Chiesa the only signing made since he succeeded Jurgen Klopp.

Premier League Glory Still Within Reach

Despite their setbacks, Liverpool remains in pole position for the Premier League title. Their 12-point cushion over Arsenal provides a sense of security, even as performances have dipped. While some fans may be concerned about the team’s recent flat displays, the international break offers an opportunity for much-needed recovery.

If Liverpool do go on to secure the title, the season will still be considered a success. However, the abrupt collapse in cup competitions serves as a reminder that sustaining excellence across multiple fronts requires depth, rotation, and tactical adaptability.

Slot will hope for a chance to reconfigure his squad this summer. The transfer window is likely to be key, especially amid the continuing uncertainty around the futures of Salah, Van Dijk, and Alexander-Arnold. But Slot might have to rethink aspects of his own approach too.

It is to his credit that Liverpool’s Premier League success already looks inevitable. The next challenge will be to sustain it.

Read More: Liverpool vs Newcastle: Tactical Analysis – How The Magpies Beat The Reds To Win The League Cup

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