Liverpool manager Arne Slot has insisted he has no concerns over the options available to him in the playing squad, stressing his recent criticism of the squad depth was focused more on injury issues.
After Wednesday’s Carabao Cup exit at the hands of Crystal Palace—a sixth defeat in seven games across all competitions—Slot argued he simply did not have the depth of options available to him that teams like Chelsea and Manchester City are blessed with as he sought to defend a controversial starting lineup.
His comments raised more questions than answers, given the Reds oversaw the single most expensive transfer window in history during the summer to bolster a squad that had just won the Premier League.
Asked what he felt was missing from the squad, Slot gleefully took the opportunity to clarify his stance as he insisted his frustrations were directed at the injury issues in his squad instead.
“We miss nothing,” he began. “I am happy that you asked this question because I am completely happy with the team and with all the quality that we have and I am also completely convinced by the strategy and the policy that we have but that makes the issue—if you call it an issue—is not all of them have had a proper pre-season or have been injured.
"When three or four are injured you go back to 16 players. I am a firm believer that 20 or 21 player is enough but you have to keep them fit as we did last season. We are struggling a bit more to keep them fit, in my opinion, for obvious reasons.
“Alex [Isak] is a great example of this. A few others have missed out on pre-season or had injuries during pre-season. It has been more difficult than last season to keep them all available and then if a few of them are not available, it comes down a lot to the same players. Maybe last season we were more lucky and now we are more unlucky.”
Slot: No Excuses for Poor Liverpool Form
Slot was also keen to stress that while his frustrations towards Liverpool’s fitness issues should be accepted, they cannot be used to excuse a drastic slump in form which has seen them fall from first in the Premier League table down to seventh in just a matter of weeks.
“No excuses for our results before people say this,” he clarified.
“We have had to play a lot of away games with only two days rest in between and that would have been difficult for our players last season and players that have been fit all pre-season but that has not been our situation. It is nothing to do with the squad depth, it is how we've gone throughout the season in terms of injuries and availability.”
Building up fitness across his squad has proven to be a real challenge for Slot, who warned fans he has to take risks at times because too many players are still playing catch-up with their match readiness.
“Let me use Alex as an example,” he continued. “He had to do a pre-season inside the season and then people will argue, ‘Why do you play him?’ But if I don’t play him, I don’t have him available and we need to have him available or then we have to play Hugo [Ekitiké] every single game.
“I was with Owen Hargreaves when he made the comparison between the two of them and he showed that one played 34 games last season and the other played 34 and we play 60 over here. That is why I need to get Alex as soon as I can into playing as many games as he can. That has been something not only with him but with a few others as well.
“Jeremie Frimpong has been in and out with injuries quite a few times, same with Conor Bradley so if one is out the other has to play more and that is why I’ve had to play Dominik Szoboszlai a few times in that position.
“That has been something what every team has, so it is not an excuse, but what was a bit different than last season. Last season, they all had one year Premier League experience as a minimum, they were all fit when we started and they stayed fit. Now, they weren’t all fit from the start and some players have to play more than you want them to do and that is a risk of them getting injured as well.
“That is just the situation as it is and we have more than enough good players available to play the game on Saturday, Tuesday and Sunday but I have to take care of them and that’s why I made the decision to not play some a few days ago.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Arne Slot Explains Criticism of Liverpool Squad Depth.
