Arne Slot has dismissed questions on his lack of rotation after making just one change for Liverpool’s 3-2 loss at Fulham, insisting his gamers are used to it.
Slot’s solely alteration from the 1-0 victory over Everton on Wednesday was to deliver Cody Gakpo in for Luis Diaz, however he witnessed a laboured first half at Craven Cottage.
Although Liverpool took the lead via Alexis Mac Allister‘s thunderbolt, they went into the break 3-1 down after a sequence of pricey errors allowed Ryan Sessegnon, Alex Iwobi and Rodrigo Muniz to attain.
It was solely when Slot turned to his bench within the second half – most notably with the introduction of Luis Diaz, Harvey Elliott and Conor Bradley – that issues improved.
However requested in his post-match press convention whether or not he regretted not rotating his squad extra to freshen issues up, the pinnacle coach replied: “No, no, no.
“Not due to that purpose, as a result of there have been 4 days in between and we’ve proven many instances this season that that’s not an issue in any respect for us. These gamers as effectively.
“I don’t suppose the errors we’ve made have something to do with gamers being drained.
“And once more, I understand how it really works, it’s in all places the identical in soccer: if you happen to concede three targets within the first half, all people is like ‘wow, that was a catastrophe’.
“Now if you happen to look again on it, realizing that you just concede three, you’ll most likely see just a few good moments as effectively, as a result of there have been additionally good moments from us in buildup.
“I feel on the half-hour I regarded and it was 1-1, I used to be like ‘OK, it’s not our greatest sport, however now we have management over the sport’.
“However then hastily I blinked my eyes and we have been 3-1 down.”
In Slot’s eyes, then, Liverpool’s failure in west London was extra right down to freak errors than a collective tiredness, although there are wider issues over numerous gamers.
It isn’t typically that Virgil van Dijk finds himself in that group of these whose performances are scrutinised, however the captain has actually struggled in latest video games.
Nonetheless Slot has insisted any query marks over Van Dijk is extra right down to the standard and profile of strikers he has confronted this week.
“I primarily give credit score to different gamers as effectively,” he defined.
“Virgil isn’t the primary defender who finds it troublesome to play towards Beto, as a result of each time he’s chasing for each ball, pushes you simply earlier than you get the ball.
“The one who performed there at the moment (Muniz), it’s important to give credit score to as effectively.
“I nonetheless see lots, lot, lot of issues Virgil does very well.
“And if you happen to play 50, 60 video games a season there shall be, additionally even for him, one or two moments the place he might have carried out higher.
“However normally, if you happen to have a look at Virgil’s efficiency towards Everton, aside from the one time he missed the ball, he was excellent. I don’t fear about him.”
