Arne Slot has admitted that he “maybe” made mistakes in the run-up to the Carabao Cup final, particularly regarding Wataru Endo‘s lack of minutes.
Seventeen days have passed and though not shaken off completely, Liverpool are looking forward rather than back at a week in which they lost the Carabao Cup final and exited the Champions League.
While focus should be on the Merseyside derby and Premier League push, Slot still had time to reflect on where the Reds went wrong before the international break.
“Maybe, maybe, maybe I made the biggest mistake by not rotating enough,” admitted the boss to media including the Liverpool Echo.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Thursday, February 6, 2025: Liverpool's head coach Arne Slot during the Football League Cup Semi-Final 2nd Leg match between Liverpool FC and Tottenham Hotspur FC at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
“Not rotating enough in the lineup for Newcastle, but I thought there were four days in between, they had enough rest.”
Ryan Gravenberch has started every league fixture this season and all but one of Liverpool’s European games. Come the campaign’s conclusion, he will likely have played over double the number of minutes he managed last time around.
The 22-year-old is a good example of a player losing form of late due to probable tiredness, as was evident against Newcastle especially.
The head coach elected not to use backup defensive midfielder, Endo, however, something he admits may have been the wrong choice.
The Japan captain hasn’t started a single Premier League match this season, whereas he started 20 under Jurgen Klopp.
Slot added: “It is too simple to only say we were outworked.
“We have to give credit to everything Newcastle did because in the end we conceded a corner. That is nothing to do with a sprint or tracking back or whatever, it is just conceding a corner.
“He (Endo) deserved maybe to come in if you look at the bigger picture of what he has done for the team, also in the League Cup.
“But as long as I am here now, for eight or nine months, I think you will be surprised if we are 1-0 or 2-0 down and I would have brought in a player that has hardly ever scored a goal. That would be a strange substitution.
“If we are 1-0 up, you can expect me to bring in Wata.
“In all the other occasions if we need a goal as we did, I took Ibou (Konate) off, put a midfielder in the last line, brought in Curtis, Ryan played as a right centre-back, Curtis started to play as a more offensive midfielder than Ryan.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Tuesday, March 11, 2025: Liverpool's Wataru Endo walks off after the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 2nd Leg match between Liverpool FC and Paris Saint-Germain FC at Anfield. The tie ended 1-1 on aggregate, PSG won 4-1 on penalties. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
“I brought in Harvey (Elliott) who can score a goal, I brought in Federico (Chiesa) who can score a goal, I had Darwin (Nunez) in the team, I had Cody (Gakpo) in the team, I had Mo (Mohamed Salah) in the team.
“So all the attackers were in the team and maybe I have to agree with you, that after 10 minutes I should have taken someone off to bring Wata in, but you don’t see many managers taking a player off after 10 minutes.
“Maybe I made the wrong decision by not starting him, that’s better to say, but we will never know.
“But we won against Newcastle with the ones that started, at home, and we outplayed them in the second half in Newcastle with the players that started in the final. So there was rationale behind the line-up.”
Having come home early from Netherlands duty due to fitness issues, Gravenberch has had chance for a reset and is expected to be available against Everton.
For now, Slot’s rotation conundrums should subside as Liverpool play just once a week until the end of the season.
It is, however, an area that will need thought over the summer.