Arne Slot insists he is completely happy with the size and quality of his squad after he was accused of ‘making excuses’ on Wednesday night.
Slot irked fans of both Liverpool and rivals when he compared his depth unfavourably to that of Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea after making ten changes for the Carabao Cup cup tie against Crystal Palace – and leaving most senior stars out of the match-day squad altogether.
It was a talking point given Liverpool, who are on a run of six losses in seven games, had spent £446million in a record-breaking transfer window. But Slot insists he is pleased with his squad.
‘We miss nothing, I am happy that you asked this question,’ he said. ‘I am completely happy with the team, all the quality that we have and completely convinced with the strategy and the policy we have but the issue is not all of them have had a proper pre-season.
‘I am a firm believer that 20 or 21 players are enough but then you have to keep them fit as we did last season. We are struggling to keep them fit for, in my opinion, obvious reasons. Alex (Isak) is a great example, came to us on September 1, a few others missed out on pre-season.
‘Maybe last season we were a bit lucky or now we are a bit more unlucky. I have no excuses for our results before people say this again but we had to play a lot of away games with only two days rest in between. That would have been a difficult schedule for every player last season.
‘I mean that for a player who has been fit all through the pre-season. That has not been our situation. Then you have to manage it, the upcoming week is again three games in seven or eight days.’
After Wednesday’s cup tie, Slot had said: ‘I saw Man City’s XI and they didn’t have one starter from the weekend but it felt like their best XI. That is a bit of an insight. Chelsea can bring Estevao in. After I made two substitutions tonight, we had six teenagers.’
Slot is navigating the trickiest spell of his managerial career – he had never lost more than two games in a row before this run including his previous jobs in Holland – but the Dutchman is confident he can steer Liverpool back towards the right track.
Saying that, though, he was quick to shoot down any talk of a new contract. Daily Mail Sport reported earlier this season how a new deal had been discussed between Liverpool and Slot – but the boss was keen to not talk about this.
Asked about this, he said: ‘That was the last question I was expecting. My focus is completely getting Liverpool back on winning ways – that’s my first answer.
‘My second answer is that contract talks – if they are there – we never speak about this in here. The first thought is to win again, that’s where my main focus is on.’
Liverpool will be without Alexander Isak and Curtis Jones for the visit of Aston Villa, with Jeremie Frimpong, Alisson and Giovanni Leoni more longer-term absentees. Key midfielder Ryan Gravenberch has trained and is hoping to be back in the squad, though.
