Paul Scholes explains Mohamed Salah Wembley no-show as Liverpool uncertainty continues

Mohamed Salah (left) missed his Liverpool team-mate Trent Alexander-Arnold in the Carabao Cup final

Via echo

Even the most ardent of Liverpool supporter would have no complaints about the outcome of Sunday's Carabao Cup final.

Newcastle United ran out winners and deservedly so.

The 2-1 loss ensured a bad week for Liverpool got worse. Knocked out of the Champions League five days earlier

There is no need to be downbeat, though. Arne Slot's first season in charge at Anfield can still end gloriously.

His side are 12 points clear at the top of the Premier League with nine games left to play.

Hold their nerve and the title will be returning to Merseyside for the first time since 2020 - and this time it will be celebrated in front of fans.

But with a long, 17-day await until Liverpool's next match, at home to city rivals Everton on April 2, the questions about what went wrong against Newcastle continue.

Were the Reds physically and mentally drained after what happened against PSG? Quite possibly.

Did they fail to match the desire shown by a Newcastle team chasing a first domestic trophy in 70 years? Only the players can honestly answer that.

Tactically, Liverpool certainly allowed the Magpies the play the type of game they excel at, while there is no doubt that the best player in the 2024-25 Premier League campaign

Mohamed Salah, was unable to influence proceedings.

The Egyptian superstar has been nothing short of sensational so far this season, scoring 32 goals and registering 22 assists in all competitions.

against Newcastle, Salah set an unwanted record. Touching the ball just 23 times, the 32-year-old failed to attempt a single shot

according to Opta, that was the first in his Reds career that has happened when he has played the entire 90 minutes of a match.

Indeed, it wasn't until the arrival of the substitutes that Liverpool began to threaten, with Federico Chiesa's late goal

when assessing the Reds' performance, Manchester United legend Paul Scholes pointed to the absence of Trent Alexander-Arnold for Salah's struggles.

Alexander-Arnold was sidelined with the injury he sustained in the second-leg loss to PSG

Scholes

"I think Liverpool were missing Trent, which you don't normally say about a right-back,"

"They just didn't have the same flow they usually have.

"They missed his passes and the number of chances that he creates for Mo Salah throughout the game. That game showed the weakness of zonal defending, because Newcastle clipped every corner to Dan Burn.

“You felt the warning signs most of the way and though they had to change something."

Alexander-Arnold is expected to return before the campaign is out but his long-term future remains mired in uncertainty.

Like top-scorer Salah and captain Virgil van Dijk, the vice-captain's contract runs out at the end of the season

Micah Richards, speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, offered a similar verdict to Scholes about Sunday.

Micah said: "They just didn't have the same flow they usually have. And you know Trent on a big pitch - he's a great passer of the ball.

" Whether he's driving forward, whether he's getting on the ball in that space, making things happen. I just thought, from Liverpool's point of view, they really missed him."