Wednesday’s back-page headlines made unpleasant reading for Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez after his side were crushed 6-3 by a young Arsenal side in the League Cup at Anfield on Tuesday.
Benitez apologised to the club’s fans after Arsenal became the first visiting team to score six at Anfield since Sunderland won 6-0 there in a Division One match in April 1930.
”Outfought, out-thought and, ultimately, outclassed,” was the Guardian’s damning verdict on Liverpool’s display, adding that they had been ”brutally exposed as a team reliant on two or three individuals”.
Like opposite number Arsene Wenger, Benitez made sweeping changes to the side that played in Saturday’s FA Cup tie, which ended with Arsenal knocking the holders out of the Cup with a 3-1 victory.
But whereas Arsenal’s emerging fringe players shone, Liverpool’s looked merely second rate.
The Daily Mirror called it Liverpool’s worst humiliation in almost 80 years, while the Daily Telegraph headlined ”Liverpool horror as The Beast strikes”, referring to Brazilian Julio Baptista’s four goals.
The Telegraph described Benitez’s team selection as ”inexplicable” as the League Cup represented Liverpool’s best hope of winning some silverware from the season.
Second victory
Arsenal’s second cup victory at Anfield in four days was far more damaging to Liverpool’s pride and self-respect than Saturday’s FA Cup victory.
Arsenal raced into a 5-1 lead with an hour played — and the margin of victory could have been even greater as Julio Baptista could have had five goals on the night — but missed a second-half penalty.
All the confidence instilled by six wins in seven league matches has now evaporated in the space of a few days and all eyes will be on Benitez at bottom club Watford on Saturday.
”It was a bad game but with a lot of years managing and training, I think you need to accept these things and put them behind you as quickly as possible, which we need to do for the Champions League and Premier League,” Benitez told the club’s website.
”The only thing I can do is say sorry to our supporters because they were the best in the game.”
Liverpool’s gloom was completed by injuries to Mark Gonzalez and Luis Garcia, which Benitez said could sideline them for ”a long time”.
Arsenal now face arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur in a two-legged semifinal with Wenger saying afterwards he might well play his youngsters against Spurs. ”I am highly tempted. They have earned the right,” he said. — Reuters