‘The idea was…’ – Arne Slot had to change his plans over two Liverpool players last night
Arne Slot admitted after Liverpool’s 2-1 win over Lille on Tuesday night that he felt compelled to make two substitutions on which he hadn’t planned.
Curtis Jones picked up an injury shortly before half-time and was duly withdrawn at the interval, while Conor Bradley made way for Trent Alexander-Arnold in the 86th minute, which seemed a surprising change when the Reds were serenely heading directly into the last 16 of the Champions League at that point.
Speaking to reporters after the match, the 46-year-old revealed that he had to alter his initial plans for the two aforementioned players who were taken off due to circumstances which arose during the game.
Slot explains Jones and Bradley substitutions
Slot explained (via Liverpool Echo): “The idea was to take Dom [Szoboszlai] off and Ryan [Gravenberch] off at half time, but Curtis unfortunately couldn’t continue so that’s why Dom stayed a bit longer.
“There was a moment in the game. What he [Jones] felt, he said, ‘Let’s play for five more minutes and then let’s see how it is’, but he said he had to come out at half-time.
“We wanted to win this game but we were also aware of the fact that we had to manage the loads. We would have been really, really, really unlucky if we would have lost twice and still not been in the top eight. As we know now, I think 18 points would have been enough to play top eight, but with 21 there is no discussion.
“Conor, the idea was to play 90, but in the end you could see it got more tough and tough and tough for him in terms of loads, so you don’t want to take the risk of him getting injured in the last few minutes like what happened against Real Madrid.”
Sensible from Slot in the wider context
Slot’s best-laid plans for Jones and Bradley may have been forcibly altered, but in both instances he analysed the wider context and made the sensible decision to remove both of them in order to mitigate the risk of injury.
We must wait to find out the severity of the problem which necessitated the midfielder’s half-time withdrawal, and whether it’ll rule him out of upcoming fixtures.
If he’s not 100% by next Wednesday, we can safely assume he won’t play any part in the concluding league phase match against PSV Eindhoven, which for Liverpool has zero consequence beyond deciding whether we finish first or second in the final standings before the knockout phase.
As for Bradley, Slot was aware of the precedent from late November and duly took the precautionary measure of subbing him before he aggravated whatever issue he’d incurred towards the end of the game.
With this being the Reds’ sixth match in 17 days, and six more to come in the next 21 days, sensible squad management is imperative for the head coach, hence the wise deviation from his initial plans last night.
Expect a belts-and-braces approach to his team selection against PSV next week, when surely anyone carrying even a slight knock or fatigue, or at risk of a yellow card suspension, ought to be given the night off.
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