Arne Slot has insisted that ‘nothing’ is missing from his Liverpool squad despite midweek comments regarding the depth of rivals.
Slot made 10 changes for the midweek defeat to Crystal Palace, as the Reds exited the Carabao Cup with a 3-0 defeat at Anfield. That loss extended the club’s run to six defeats in seven games across all competitions, a run that has left their Premier League title defence in jeopardy.
The Dutchman faced criticism for his squad depth comments, with Liverpool having invested a single-window record £415m on new players in the summer.
Liverpool host Aston Villa tomorrow evening, aiming to bounce back from their dismal run. Ahead of the game, Slot insisted he is happy with his squad, but has said injuries are a factor in his side’s struggles.
Slot ‘completely happy’ with Liverpool squad
“We miss nothing. I am happy that you asked this question because I am completely happy with the team and with all the quality that we have and I am also completely convinced by the strategy and the policy that we have but that makes the issue – if you call it an issue – is not all of them have had a proper pre-season or have been injured.
“When three or four are injured you go back to 16 players. I am a firm believer that 20 or 21 player is enough but you have to keep them fit as we did last season. We are struggling a bit more to keep them fit, in my opinion, for obvious reasons. Alex [Isak] is a great example of this. A few others have missed out on pre-season or had injuries during pre-season. It has been more difficult than last season to keep them all available and the if a few of them are not available, it comes down a lot to the same players. Maybe last season we were more lucky and now we are more unlucky.
“But, no excuses for our results before people say this. We have had to play a lot of away games with only two days rest in-between and that would have been difficult for our players last season and players that have been fit all pre-season but that has not been our situation. It is nothing to do with the squad depth, it is how we’ve gone throughout the season in terms of injuries and availability.”
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