Manager Arne Slott was concerned about what would be written and said about “rotating” his squad ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League clash with Frankfurt, but not many would think Mohamed Salah’s omission from the starting XI was meant to give the 33-year-old Egyptian a break after his performance against Manchester United.
“The song ‘Rotate’ always makes me think, ‘Oh, let’s play some for other people,'” Slott said.
“But as I’ve said many times, we have a lot of good players and we can use them all. If you’re playing three games in seven days, it might be wise to use everyone. So we made three changes at the end of the 55th minute against United, partly because we were losing 1-0, but also because we needed to use the squad.”
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“We’re going to use as many players tomorrow as we did Saturday. In that case, it’s going to be a certain rotation, but the word ‘rotation’ could be interpreted as ‘we’re good enough to play with a few others.'” No, no, no, we have more than 11 players who can start a football game. That’s why we’ve done it so many times.
“And we might do this again tomorrow.”
Slott made five changes to the team that lost to United, with Jeremy Frimpong, Andy Robertson, Curtis Jones and Florian Wirths all included, but Hugo Ekitike to replace Salah is undoubtedly the notable call-up.
This is the first time since joining the club in 2017 that Salah has not been named in Liverpool’s starting XI for two consecutive Champions League games.
The decision is all the more important given that it is a game in which Slott are desperate to stop the rot, having suffered four consecutive defeats (Liverpool have not lost five on the bounce since 1953), including a loss to Galatasaray in the last Champions League.
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Salah is not in a must-win match, but if he is in any form, he will likely start in a match he absolutely wants to win in order to avoid a self-determined crisis.
For the first time in his Liverpool career, there were suggestions that the Egyptian’s lack of defense, failing to counteract his weaknesses through goals and assists, hurt Liverpool and made him unworthy of a spot in the squad.
Jones’ arrival as a replacement for Mac Allister is unsurprising given the Argentine’s similar poor form this term, but while Milos Kerkes has been sidelined for much of his Reds career thus far, Frimpong is perhaps Liverpool’s biggest threat, coming off the bench and starting against United.
As Slott was keen to point out, this is not a “rotated” team, but the team he feels is best suited to beat Frankfurt. Don’t get me wrong, Salah was dropped.
