'Only 15 or 16 players available': Arne Slot defends Liverpool XI after Carabao Cup experiment backfires | OneFootball

Reds head coach picked a team with upcoming games against Aston Villa, Real Madrid and Manchester City in mind

Arne Slot has defended his team selection after Liverpool were eliminated from the Carabao Cup against Crystal Palace.

Slot opted to make TEN changes to the Reds side for the fourth-round tie at Anfield on Wednesday night, with Milos Kerkez the sole survivor from the team that started the 3-2 loss to Brentford last weekend.

Andy Robertson, Joe Gomez, Wataru Endo, Federico Chiesa and Alexis Mac Allister were the senior names included in the starting line-up as Freddie Woodman was handed his competitive debut for the club.

However, the rest of the matchday squad was made up of inexperienced youngsters as the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah, Florian Wirtz, Dominik Szoboszlai and Hugo Ekitike were given the night off.

Ultimately Slot’s decision to not include those big names, at least on the bench, backfired as Palace cruised to a 3-0 victory on Merseyside thanks to a brace from Ismaila Sarr and a strike from Yeremy Pino.

However, Slot insists he has no regrets over the team selection, suggesting his squad have struggled to cope with the demanding fixture schedule.

“It is always a blow to lose a game of football, especially if it leads to going out of a competition,” Slot said in his post-match press conference. “But it is the same selection I did tonight as I did last season in rounds like this.

Apology: Andy Robertson

Liverpool FC via Getty Images

“There are many reasons, maybe, why we've lost six out of seven – none of them are good enough to accept losing so many. I can come up with arguments or reasons, but none of them will be enough to go to that standard because at Liverpool losing six out of seven is always too much.

“If I look at our performance against Brentford, to use that as an example, two days after we played Frankfurt away, I saw there a team that maybe struggled with playing three games in seven days.

“Again, not an excuse to lose that game of football, but it is not a complete surprise to me if I see some of the struggles some players have had in pre-season and players that came from different leagues and it is a new challenge for them to play at Premier League and Champions League level in three games in seven days.

“So, again, in two days we play Villa and the last time I played a player we thought was ready for their programme but it turned out maybe he wasn't was Alexander Isak when he went out with an injury [at Frankfurt].

“Last time we played Southampton, Giovanni Leoni went out with an injury in a game like this and we got the red card for Hugo Ekitike after two yellows.

“I think at this moment in time, with only 15 or 16 players available – and I am talking then about players of our squad available – and to add to that this club has always used this competition to use their academy players as well – the non-starters and the academy players – it felt to me as the right decision and I haven't changed my opinion about that after the result because with our starters we haven't been able to win a lot from Palace as well.”

It felt to me as the right decision and I haven't changed my opinion about that after the result because with our starters we haven't been able to win a lot from Palace as well

Arne Slot

Liverpool face Aston Villa in the Premier League on Saturday night before games against Real Madrid and Manchester City before the November international break.

It is now six defeats from the last seven games across all competitions for the Merseyside giants, though Slot does not believe there will be any additional pressure heading into the trilogy of fixtures.

“I don't think it is possible if you lose six out of seven that there is even more pressure,” he added. “If you are on a run of results like this, if you play for Liverpool, if you manage Liverpool, you know the pressure is there.

“I don't think it has changed much after this loss, but if it did then maybe the most positive thing about tonight was the position we were in, 2-0 down and we weren't really pushing for a goal because we weren't able to, the fans were behind the team and supporting us.

“That gives me the feeling on Saturday when our players will show how much it means to them, our fans will be incredibly supportive for us on Saturday. Again, we face a team that has rested in the week to play us and that's Villa.”