Five Liverpool players won't play in next fixture as Arne Slot decision confirmed

Arne Slot's named five players who are guaranteed not to feature for Liverpool in their Carabao Cup third round tie against Southampton on Tuesday. The Reds head coach was speaking after guiding his side to a 2-1 victory over Everton in the Premier League.

Slot rang the changes with four players introduced to the line-up that started Wednesday evening's thrilling 3-2 victory over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League. Conor Bradley, Milos Kerkez, Hugo Ekitike and Alexis Mac Allister all made their return with Andy Robertson, Jeremie Frimpong, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak dropping to the bench.

Ryan Gravenberch opened the scoring for Liverpool to get his second goal of the campaign for the Reds. Hugo Ekitike was also on the score sheet with his third strike of the season, before Idrissa Gueye got a goal back for the Toffees at Anfield.

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With another midweek fixture ahead for Liverpool, Slot has all-but confirmed that five players who started the win over Everton will not line up to face Southampton at Anfield.

“It’s the reason why teams like us and the ones in Europe need a squad like this, you play so many games," Slot told reporters on Saturday (via the Liverpool Echo).

"It’s not an excuse, we accept it. We have had some issues with Alexander Isak not training for four months, Mac Allister missing out a lot, I can go on and on.

“The good thing is I have the option to rotate throughout the week, and the ones that played three times 90 minutes are Virgil [Van Dijk], Ibou [Ibrahima Konate], Mo [Mohamed Salah], Ryan [Gravenberch] and Dom [Dominik Szoboszlai], the ones that are used to this intensity at this level, and again they showed up really good.

“I can tell you now you won’t be seeing them on Tuesday."

Slot went on to explain where he believes Liverpool could do with improvements despite claiming their fifth consecutive win in the Premier League this season and sixth in all competitions.

“We managed the game really well but we didn't manage some moments really well," said Slot. "I said this before the game. There’s a lot to like but we have to understand that a moment can change momentum.

“This is what happened against Bournemouth, Newcastle and Atletico. We have to understand that a moment can change a game no matter how well you are playing, always fight for those moments.

“This is where we can improve. But we managed the game, in general, really well, I don’t think they had a chance after 2-1. But it always feels a bit difficult if you’re only 2-1 up.

“These are very good players but we have played in different set-ups, really good moments for large parts of the game."

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