Arne Slot‘s decision to rotate and rest for the Carabao Cup not only led to Liverpool’s sixth defeat in seven games, but increased the pressure on a decisive run of fixtures to come.

Remove the context of Liverpool’s current run of form and Slot’s 10 changes for the visit of Crystal Palace were not unreasonable.

With Alisson, Giovanni Leoni, Curtis Jones, Ryan Gravenberch and Alexander Isak all unavailable, along with both Stefan Bajcetic and Jayden Danns, the usual wholesale rotation was made more difficult.

Liverpool still started the game with six established senior players in Alexis Mac Allister, Federico Chiesa, Milos Kerkez, Wataru Endo, vice-captain Andy Robertson and the club’s longest-serving player Joe Gomez.

Trey Nyoni and Rio Ngumoha are also trusted first-team options while debutant goalkeeper Freddie Woodman is far from inexperienced with 278 competitive appearances under his belt at the age of 28.

Had, say, Leoni and Jones been fit it would have been a decidedly more cohesive second-string side, removing the only two risks on paper in starting Calvin Ramsay for the first time in three years and handing 18-year-old Kieran Morrison his debut.

But the reality is that this Liverpool side was on a hiding...