NewsArne Slot on Southampton tie: Team selection and trophy intentions
Arne Slot has confirmed Liverpool are set to rotate their starting line-up for the Carabao Cup third-round tie with Southampton at Anfield.
The head coach revealed following Saturday’s Merseyside derby victory over Everton he would rest some of his senior stars for the fixture, as a result of the Reds’ recent schedule.
And in an exclusive interview with Liverpoolfc.com at the AXA Training Centre on Monday, Slot explained why he will make changes against Saints on Tuesday night.
The boss said: “Yeah, we do [make changes]. Same as we did last season in the League Cup.
“So many games need to be played and our players are able to do so, but once in a while they need a bit of rest as well because we sometimes tend to forget because we are so focused – and I’m the first one – on our games at Liverpool but many of them have played twice for the national teams as well.
“So, they are able to do a lot but once in a while they need a little bit of rest – and I’m talking about two days of rest, which is still not a lot. Yes, there will be a completely changed line-up.
“But that our players are fit, that’s clear. Because a lot has been said about the added time against Everton but I would have loved to play on three or four seconds more because we were in a five-v-two situation at that moment.
“Now that tells you, I think, all about the mentality we have, always wanting to score a goal. The three minutes were completely correct, by the way, because there were only three moments where a substitution was made. There was no time-wasting because that’s not what we do – unfortunately, I have to say, sometimes – and there was no treatment of injuries, one goal scored.
“Then you come to three [minutes]. Where in many other games when we need a goal, there’s a lot, a lot, a lot of time-wasting going on, I can tell you.”
Asked if the fixture could be an opportunity for the likes of Alexander Isak, Giovanni Leoni and Giorgi Mamardashvili to get some minutes, Slot replied: “Yeah, we can go through all of them – Wata Endo and a few more.
“These are the players that need a game and we’re happy that we have one. If we wouldn’t have had one, we probably would have arranged a friendly in this week for these players because they need to play games as well to keep them ready whenever we need them.
“We’ve used quite a lot in the last three games because we thought we needed to keep this energy throughout all the three games – but not all of them. And the few we haven’t used, it’s definitely the perfect moment for them to get playing time.”
Liverpool reached the final of the Carabao Cup last season – and Slot confirmed the intention remains to try to go one better this time around.
He said: “Last season we reached the final with these line-ups and there’s no trophy we underestimate, we always want to win every trophy we compete for.
“That’s the good thing about the quality of the squad we have, that we still have a very good team that we can play tomorrow. But we have to think about the long term as well.
“If we want to compete in every single trophy then some players need a normal week, which is not playing during the week once in a while as well. That’s managing a team throughout the whole season with trying to compete at every level we are competing for.”