Robbie Fowler claims Arne Slot got it badly wrong with one aspect of his team selection v Spurs | OneFootball

Robbie Fowler has claimed that Arne Slot got it badly wrong with one aspect of his team selection for Liverpool’s draw against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

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The Dutchman made some notable alterations to his starting XI for the match at Anfield, with Mo Salah and Hugo Ekitike among those who dropped to the bench as Rio Ngumoha made his full Premier League debut, Jeremie Frimpong moved into the attack and Dominik Szoboszlai was deployed at right-back.

The changes appeared to be with one eye on the quick turnaround to facing Galatasaray in a must-win Champions League game on Wednesday night and Brighton away in the early kick-off next Saturday, but more dropped points for the Reds has seen the scrutiny on the head coach intensify.

Fowler claims Slot got it wrong with team selection against Spurs

Speaking on Premier League Productions on Sunday night (via Liverpool World), Fowler was critical of Slot for tinkering with his line-up too much, particularly when it came to benching Ekitike.

The Liverpool legend said: “It’s like teams when you go into cups and they play a weakened team. You have got to get the wins and confidence going. If you get a win, that breeds confidence to take into the next game. You’ve always got to play your strongest team.

“I get that you’ve got to look after the players because you’ve got big games, but the big game is the next one. I don’t know whether Ekitike is complaining of tiredness or a bit vulnerable in terms of he can’t play that many games per week, but for me you’ve got to play him.”

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Was Slot right to drop Ekitike to the bench yesterday?

Whilst we can understand Slot’s intention to rotate his squad during a hectic three-game week, we also get Fowler’s argument for naming the strongest possible XI and injecting some bit of momentum after the defeat away to Galatasaray last Tuesday.

Although Ekitike has had to shoulder the centre-forward burden in the absence of the injured Alexander Isak, he’d already had a rest against Wolves in the FA Cup and a five-day gap from playing the full match in Istanbul, so he ought to have been reasonably fresh to start yesterday.

Cody Gakpo had some openings against Spurs and was unlucky to see one effort come back off the post, although another scoreless outing for the Dutch forward will naturally raise questions as to whether his French teammate should’ve started instead.

The 23-year-old wasn’t as sharp as usual after he came on, failing to get on the end of some promising passes and fluffing his lines with a shot late on, and he’s now scored just once in eight appearances since his double against Newcastle at the end of January.

If Ekitike bursts back into form and puts Galatasaray to the sword on Wednesday night as Liverpool progress in Europe, then Slot may feel that his rotation yesterday was vindicated. However, the head coach is treading a high-wire act at present as the disappointments keep on coming for his team.