Arne Slot was left to rue a lack of firepower as Liverpool fell to a 2-1 defeat against Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley.
The Reds boss expressed frustration that the international break would prevent his team from immediately addressing a challenging week, which also saw them exit the Champions League.
For the second consecutive match, Slot opted for Diogo Jota as the lone striker, with Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah flanking him.
However, the Portugal international struggled to break down the Newcastle defence before being replaced by Darwin Nunez, who similarly failed to make an impact against the resolute Magpies backline.
It was substitute Federico Chiesa who scored a late consolation goal in stoppage time, following goals from Dan Burn and Alexander Isak.
Despite the late effort, the defeat was a deserved one for Liverpool, while Newcastle claimed their first domestic trophy (Carabao Cup) in 70 years.
“You try to make some changes and you go to a No.9 who is stronger in the air than Diogo is,” Slot said.
“You hope Darwin can make it a bit more difficult for defenders to win all the long balls that in the first half I think Dan Burn won every duel.
“You try to influence it like this and you show them at half-time that in the few moments that are left when the ball is on the ground that we have a bit more time than we think and we could make better decisions and I saw that immediately after half-time. We played through them a bit more in the second half, not a lot but a bit.”
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