Arne Slot has defended his team selection for Liverpool’s 3-0 Carabao Cup defeat to Crystal Palace and insisted his opinion hadn’t changed despite witnessing the result.
Slot made 10 changes to his lineup from the 3-2 defeat to Brentford at the weekend, with Milos Kerkez the only player retained, and rested all of his other regular starters for the visit of Palace.
It meant a debut from the start for 18-year-old Kieran Morrison while later in the game centre-back Wellity Lucky also made his bow as the Reds fell to a deserved defeat.
Given it made it six losses in their last seven games, many have questioned the logic of Slot effectively handing the tie to Palace.
But speaking in his post-match press conference the head coach defended his lineup, and explained that injury and the need to prepare for Aston Villa on Saturday were key factors in his decision.
“If I look at our performance against Brentford, two days after we played Frankfurt away, I saw there a team that maybe struggled with playing three games in seven days – again, not an excuse,” he told reporters.
“Which is not a complete surprise to me if I see the struggle some players have had in pre-season.
“And players that came from different leagues, it’s a new challenge for them to play, at Premier League and Champions League level, three games in seven days.
“So again in two days we play Villa and the last time I played a player that we thought was ready for that programme, but it turned out maybe he wasn’t, was Alexander Isak and he went out with an injury.
“Last time [in this competition] we played Southampton, Giovanni Leoni went out with an injury in a game like this and we got a red card for Hugo Ekitike.
“I think in this moment in time, with only 15 or 16 players available, it felt to me that this was the right decision and I haven’t changed my opinion about that after the result.
“Because with our starters we haven’t been able to win a lot from Palace as well.”
Regardless of his explanation there will be many supporters who feel it is simply not good enough for Liverpool – particularly after winning the Premier League and spending £450 million in the summer – to lose six of their last seven games.
Slot acknowledged that but again argued that his team selection for the Carabao Cup was in keeping with last season, though in reality the squad was never as inexperienced as on Wednesday.
“It’s always a blow to lose a game of football, especially if it leads to going out of a competition,” he admitted.
“But it’s the same selection I made tonight as I did last season in the rounds like this.
“There are many reasons maybe why we’ve lost six out of seven – none of them are good enough to accept losing so many.
“I can come up with arguments and reasons, but none of them will be enough to go to that standard.
“Because at Liverpool, losing six out of seven is always too much.”
Slot appears to bemoan squad depth after injuries
Slot was later asked about his decision to name an entire bench of academy players, foregoing the option of bringing on the likes of Mohamed Salah if required.
He compared the situation now to that of the 5-1 win over West Ham in the third round last season, which saw him make nine changes but field a squad full of senior players.
“A year ago we did the same, but maybe the lineup felt different,” he said.
“Before I went out I saw City’s lineup and I don’t think they had one starter from the weekend but it felt as if, if you look at their lineup, they played with their 11 starters.
“When we played Chelsea I said they were missing eight but they could still bring Estevao in.
“We’re only missing four players at the moment and already we needed to start with four players under the age of 19, and after I made two substitutions we were on six.”
Fan Comments