Former Manchester United star Rio Ferdinand believes Liverpool boss Arne Slot will have been "thankful" after the postponement of the Merseyside Derby.
The Reds clash with their local rivals Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday (Dec. 7) was called off amid adverse weather conditions due to Storm Darragh. The derby fixture would have came following a string of tasking games for the current Premier League leaders which included games against Real Madrid, Manchester City and Newcastle United.
With the derby versus the Toffees now set to take place next year, Liverpool's short away trip across Stanley Park will potentially take place during the week of Feb. 17th. Having been handed an unexpected break from action at the weekend, ex-Premier League stalwart Ferdinand has asserted that that Slot may be glad of the respite after a difficult run of fixtures.
With title rivals Manchester City and Arsenal both having dropped points too, the events of the weekend have worked out in Liverpools favor, according to Ferdinand. He said on TNT Sports: "Sometimes you have your best games when you don't play - and this was the weekend it happened.
"Teams around them dropped points. They managed to get a few more players rested and recuperated. I think Arne Slot would have been sat there saying 'Thank goodness for this. Thank god not too many bad things happened from it but for my squad it's good, positive vibe'."
Meanwhile, Reds boss Slot said of the postponement: "If we would have played that game then maybe we would have still played the same team as we are playing tomorrow night. But then you never know how that fixture, what people told me can be quite intense, would have led to.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot speaks during his press conference ahead of the Champions League clash with Girona
Liverpool boss Arne Slot speaks during his press conference ahead of the Champions League clash with Girona (Image: Getty Images)
"I think it was a very good decision to cancel the game for the safety of all the people. If you play such a special game, the last [derby] at Goodison Park, it needs to be, in my opinion, also in good circumstances.
"But that had nothing to do with the game being cancelled, but that's the good end result of it as well – that we can now play this game in good circumstances," he continued, as he supported the decision to call off the clash. "But it was a very good choice coming from safety not to play that game."
The Liverpool head coach also confessed that the break from action had inadvertently allowed his players a rest, as he added: "Now everyone is really fit because we skipped the game on Saturday, so there's no reason to rotate from the last match.
"Maybe there's a reason for the upcoming match but there's also three days in between that one. So, we will start like all the other games we've started with – with a very good team tomorrow."