Arne Slot felt it was the “best choice” to make wholesale changes to his Liverpool lineup after Crystal Palace knocked them out of the League Cup on Wednesday.Â
Ismaila Sarr scored a first-half brace to put the Eagles in control of the tie at Anfield before Jeremy Pino added a third late on.
It’s the third time the south London outfit have beaten Liverpool this season, having also come out victorious in the Community Shield and Premier League.
It also continues a wretched run of form for the Reds, who have lost six of the last seven outings, which has been bookended by defeats to Palace.
Liverpool have now lost more games than any other side in Europe’s top five leagues since 27th September and it was the first time they have lost a domestic cup match by three goals in 91 years.
Arne Slot explains Liverpool decisions following Crystal Palace defeat
With fixture congestion becoming a problem for the team, Slot felt he needed to rotate his starting lineup ahead of important matches against Aston Villa, Real Madrid and Manchester City in the next ten days.
“You have every option where you can choose from, but the reality is also that there is not a lot of reasons why we have lost five out of six,” the Dutchman told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“None of them are enough to make up for the fact we have lost so many. It is clear in the last few weeks we have always had to play two days after we played the last game after a difficult game in Europe.
“If you look at the week coming up, that is going to be a big week for us, everyone and the club. We need as many players available as we can. You can see today with the line-up I had to make. I only rested the players that have played mainly in the last week. This is the line-up you get. That shows you we already have a few injuries. With a big week coming up for me, it felt the best choice.
“Combined with that, this club has always chosen in the League Cup to give playing time to young academy players as well. Our squad is probably not as big as people think it is. There has not been a change in the way we look at this.”
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