Liverpool still have nine games to play this season but six members of the first-team squad have already played more minutes than their total from last season.
A week can change a lot in football, as we found out with a Champions League exit and a Carabao Cup final defeat all in the space of six days.
In Virgil van Dijk‘s words, it was “sunshine and rainbows everywhere” as the possibility of a treble remained, but now the only focus is on the Premier League – which is not to be understated.
But the shift in mood as we wait for Liverpool to return from the international break has turned to the familiar signs of fatigue, and no wonder as six players have already eclipsed their 2023/24 tally.
Mohamed Salah, Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konate have already clocked more minutes after 47 matches than they did across the club’s 58 last season.
All six are regulars under Arne Slot and sit inside the top 10 for the most minutes played across all competitions this season, and that does not even take international action into account.
The discrepancy between minutes is largely down to the majority missing games due to injury last season, while in Gravenberch’s case he has become an integral part of Slot’s midfield unit.
The Dutchman, with nine club games remaining this season, is on course to eclipse his best-ever tally of minutes as a professional, which he achieved with 3,946 for Ajax in 2020/21.
Fatigue was the Reds’ downfall in Jurgen Klopp‘s last season and Slot’s proclivity to utilise the same 13/14 players is having a similar effect, especially when the summer injected only one fresh pair of legs which he does not often use.
Liverpool, however, will have a week between games after the break, which ought to propel their title charge with just 16 more points needed to be crowned champions.
With 810 minutes left in the 2024/25 season, Virgil van Dijk, Alexis Mac Allister, Alisson, Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota could yet surpass their minutes played from last season in a campaign that will be two games shorter.
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