After the team news for Wednesday’s clash with Crystal Palace was announced, social media was flooded with confused and disgruntled Liverpool fans. The team named by Arne Slott was seen by many as an admission that the Dutchman was not concerned about progressing in the Carabao Cup, or indeed winning to break out of his funk.
Ten changes to the starting XI and six players with 90s squad numbers on the bench are evidence of that apathy, suggesting Slott believes Liverpool’s stars need a break more than the club’s victories. That’s quite a bit after losing five of six in the Premier League and losing four.
One player who kept his place after the 2-1 defeat to Brentford also felt very important, given that Milos Kerkes could be the first player on Liverpool fans’ list of dropped players.
Gary Neville said Milos Kerkes looked like a “baby” during the defeat to Chelsea and urged Slott to remove the player from his first eleven after the game against Brentford.
“I’m starting to worry about left-back,” Gary Neville said. “He (Milos Kerkes) scored a goal last night, but when I look at him I think he should be beaten.”
“If he continues to play Kelkes at left-back and Bradley continues to play at right-back and they continue to be exposed as much as the midfield, you will continue to get the same results.
“Every game you flip a coin and think, ‘Are we going to win or are we going to lose?’ But the way Liverpool have performed over the last 12 months, that’s not going to happen.
Liverpool hero John Aldridge later claimed that Kerkes “needs to be taken out of action”, but Slott did the opposite.
He is the central figure on the front line, ready for the firing squad to take aim. Perhaps his position in the team suggests he is about to be left out of the Premier League eleven, but even if that’s not the case, Kerkes could reasonably ask why he doesn’t deserve a break when his first eleven teammates are underperforming.
Slott offered the usual excuses for Liverpool’s dire situation when he revealed the reasons for the team’s wholesale changes on Wednesday.
“Those who know this club and have followed this club for several years know that in this competition we also use this system for young players. We want to create an avenue for them to be able to play in front of 60,000 people, in front of our fans, so that’s one of the reasons,” Slott said.
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“The other reason is that we only have four or five players injured, but if we have to play with the same players again, I think there are multiple reasons why we didn’t win as much, why we lost so many games. And even with all the reasons, there’s still no excuse for losing so many games.
“But it certainly didn’t help that we had to play at home and then away again almost every time, when there were only two days between games we had to play.
“So if you keep playing with the same players, for example with Alexander Lisak, who missed pre-season, there is a big risk of getting injured again. And we only have 15 or 16 senior players available at the moment.”
