Arne Slot explains Milos Kerkez substitution as Liverpool boss makes telling admission

Milos Kerkez

Arne Slot has confirmed the decision to substitute Milos Kerkez at half time of Saturday's 3-2 defeat to Bournemouth was not down to an injury.

But the Liverpool boss did concede the fitness of the left-back was a consideration after a punishing period.

The Reds saw their 13-game unbeaten run ended at the Vitality Stadium as Amine Adli's winner with the last kick of the game sealing victory after Virgil van Dijk and Dominik Szoboszlai had cancelled out first-half goals from Evanilson and Alex Jimenez.

Kerkez was taken off for Andy Robertson, who is subject to an approach from Tottenham Hotspur, and Slot has revealed the Hungary international is being carefully managed over fears of a muscle injury.

Slot

"No, there was not an injury but I wouldn't say it was tactical,"

“It was obvious before the game that it was not smart to play him another 90 minutes. He is one of the players I constantly play and I have to keep them fit, I have to manage their load.

"And it was yesterday when the performance staff came to me and said if we had an extra day he wouldn't have trained yesterday, to recover a little bit more, so then you are always in a certain risk zone and I already had to make a substitution in the first half.

"So that means if you leave him on and take him out after 60 minutes, your second substitution is left, so that is why I decided to take him off at half time, because it was always the intention to take him off somewhere. And I did that a bit earlier."

On the result itself, Slot, added: "It's frustrating because it is always frustrating to concede a goal but especially if there is no time to get it back.

"But I think it is safe to say they could have made it 3-2 a little bit earlier. When we made it 2-2 we were still trying but I think it is safe to say a few players of ours ran out of energy.

"I cannot even criticise them because two days ago we played away in Europe (against Marseille) and we are the only team that played in the Champions League on Wednesday and has just two days in between, another away game against one of the most intense teams in the league.

“And I mainly, as you probably see, played the same players because of who we have available. So then, what should not have happened if you have to win it in the end because then that is more difficult.

“That is what you saw in the last 10 minutes because the rest of it we dominated the game.

"If Bournemouth had to run more it is because we had 60/70 possession or something like that but credit to Bournemouth they are always near the top of the running stats, that is why I have to credit my players.

"If we go 2-0 down then we showed the mentality and the fitness to come back into the game against one of the fittest teams in the league.

“And they only have to play once a week, which helps. But that is not an excuse because a club like Liverpool is used to playing three times a week but we had to do that with the same players and maybe last year was a bit different.

“Last year I don't think we had three long-term injuries as we had now and you can see it in the lineup."

promoted link

Ad - Liverpool F.C. Fleece Bed Blanket Soft Sofa Throw - https://amzn.to/4bdnTPX