Combined, their fees pushed the club’s total spend well beyond the £250m mark, creating a financial and tactical puzzle that Slot must now solve. Against Aston Villa, Liverpool produced arguably their sharpest performance of the season — yet neither Wirtz nor Isak started the match.

Why Alisson isn't playing goalie today for Liverpool with team news, injury update originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here. Liverpool has one of the top goalies in the world, Alisson Becker.

Slot made 10 changes to the side who lost at Brentford on Saturday, but the defeat to Palace marked a sixth loss in seven for Liverpool.

Before Paris Saint-Germain crushed Liverpool's hopes of European glory last season, the Reds bested Real Madrid 2-0 at Anfield in the league phase to end an agonising eight-game losing run against Los Blancos, who had won seven of those contests during that hot streak.

Read also: Ronaldo makes history as football’s first billionaire Liverpool spent €482.9 million on new signings — Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitike, Florian Wirtz, and Jeremie Frimpong — all top-level players with hefty price tags. But so far ...

After winning the 2024-25 Premier League, Liverpool started this season with high hopes. A series of losses drew sharp criticism from Wayne Rooney toward Virgil Van Dijk and Mohamed Salah. Following their recent win,

Liverpool boss Arne Slot has as good as ‘admitted his squad is not strong enough’ and has been told where he’s gone wrong with Florian Wirtz. Defeat to Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup made it six defeats in seven for the reigning Premier League champions, and Slot was criticised after the game for ceding the tie by playing the kids.

Palace boss Oliver Glasner felt it was "disrespectful" to suggest Liverpool had fielded a weakened team and believed his side deserved all the credit.