Arne Slot has explained the process behind the decision to leave nine first-team players at home for the trip to Eindhoven, and how he hopes it will benefit Liverpool in the long term.
None of Alisson, Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Mo Salah nor Luis Diaz were included in the squad to face PSV.
Instead, a host of youngsters were named in the 21-man squad for the final league phase Champions League match, as Liverpool know they can finish no lower than second in the table.
• READ: NINE key players left out as Liverpool name 21-man travelling squad
Slot explained that those left behind will not be training on Wednesday but instead will have the day off, saying: “If possible, we always prefer to have them off three days before a game, it’s not always possible, but we try.”
Some staff members will fly back early in order to oversee training on Thursday morning for those that did not travel to Eindhoven, with the coach admitting his thought process included Saturday’s trip to face in-form Bournemouth.
With the first seven games in this competition setting up the opportunity to rotate, it seems wise that Slot has taken advantage, and he explained his thought process to reporters on Tuesday evening.
“All the players left behind could have played tomorrow,” he explained. “But for the long-term, it doesn’t tell us anything about the short-term or Saturday.
“If you look back at our season it’s always been after four, five weeks we gave them the break during the week. If there was a moment for them to get some freshness back we’ve always done that.”
“Result has no importance to the league table”
Liverpool are guaranteed to finish first or second in the league phase, with a point enough to guarantee top spot, but Slot admits that will have little benefit anyway:
“It took me a while to understand the new format, but now I can say I’m 100 percent sure it doesn’t matter if we end up [No.] 1 or [No.] 2, because we will play 14th, 15th, 16th or 17th [in the last 16] and, in the end, it’s a draw.
“This is the game for us because we are now number one or number two, we cannot drop to number three, the result has no importance to the league table.
“But a very wise man once said to me, ‘I’ve never seen anything good come from losing a football game’, so we are not going into tomorrow trying to lose the game, we will do everything we can to win it.”
Slot then made sure to add that because “13/14 players share most of the playing time,” it is useful for those on the fringe to “have 90 minutes.”
“If we do get into injury problems, these players will have a bit of game rhythm then as well,” he added. “It doesn’t tell you anything about the results in the short-term, but definitely it helps us for the long term.”
It has definitely proven a popular decision as Liverpool must seize every chance to rest players if they are to continue to pursue all four trophies.
Liverpool’s travelling squad for PSV
Goalkeepers: Kelleher, Jaros, Davies
Defenders: Quansah, Nallo, Bradley, Robertson, Tsimikas, Norris, Mabaya
Midfielders: Endo, Elliott, McConnell, Morton, Nyoni, Morrison
Forwards: Gakpo, Nunez, Chiesa, Danns, Kone-Doherty
