Arne Slot clarifies comments on Liverpool squad and names key problem

Arne Slot has insisted that Liverpool’s squad is not too small and said he is completely happy with their strategy of having fewer players than their rivals.

The Dutchman picked a weakened team as Liverpool went out of the Carabao Cup to Crystal Palace , making 10 changes and naming a bench with only nine previous first-team appearances for the club between them.

And afterwards Slot, who said he only had 15 or 16 first-team players available, drew a comparison with the strength of Pep Guardiola’s second-string Manchester City who beat Swansea on the same night.

But Slot insists the only problem Liverpool have is injuries, with Ryan Gravenberch in contention to return against Aston Villa on Saturday but five others, including Alexander Isak and Curtis Jones, likely to be out, as he said he was delighted with the squad he has after Liverpool’s £450m summer spend.

“We miss nothing,” 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 or have been injured during the season.

“When three or four are injured so then you go back to 16 players. 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 is a great example. He came to us on 1 September, a few others have missed out on pre-season, a few others have had their injuries in pre-season and it has been more difficult than last season to keep them all available and then when a few of them are not available it comes down a lot to the same players. Maybe last season we were a bit lucky or now we are a bit more unlucky.”

Slot nevertheless feels he has a challenge to manage the minutes of his players, especially those who are not at 100 per cent.

He added: “There are no excuses for our results 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 pre-season. That has not been our situation. Then you have to manage it, the upcoming week is again three in seven or eight days. That is nothing to do with squad depth it has to do with how you get through the season in terms of injuries, availability and players ability to play every game.”