Caoimhin Kelleher starts his third League Cup final after Arne Slot elected to choose the Irishman over Alisson, and the Liverpool boss has now explained why.
The Carabao Cup has been Kelleher’s opportunity for game time for a number of seasons now, first with Jurgen Klopp and more recently under Slot.
Of Liverpool’s five games leading up to the final this season, he featured in three while Alisson and Vitezslav Jaros played a game each – leaving a slight question mark over the choice for the final.
But it was Kelleher’s name on the team sheet when it was released an hour before kickoff at Wembley, and Slot conceded that the choice was not difficult when speaking to Sky Sports pre-match.
“That wasn’t that difficult,” Slot admitted. “It was only once when I played Allison, and that was when he was out for injury for quite a long time.
Confirmed Liverpool lineup vs. Newcastle: 2 changes
“And I think at that moment, he needed playing time, game time, to be back at his best. But for all the other games, we’ve always played the second choice.
“So that also has been Vit Jaros when Caoimh was the number one, and Caoimh has always been so good for us that he also deserves to play this one.”
It is not a decision that will surprise the majority of Liverpool supporters with Kelleher having more than proved himself in the previous two Carabao Cup-winning campaigns.
The Irishman was only one of two changes made to the starting lineup from the midweek defeat to Paris Saint-Germain, with Jarell Quansah replacing the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold at right-back.
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On the change, Slot said: “I don’t think it means that much difference in how the formation is, or how we want to do build up.
“But it definitely is different if you have Trent who can play the ball wherever he wants to, or you have Jarell, but Jarell brings other qualities to the game as well.
“He’s very good at set pieces. This is what we saw against PSG, when he headed the ball on the post, talking about margins!
“So every individual brings his own qualities, but we’re not gonna play a completely different style because we miss out on one player in one position.”
And while we know how good Kelleher is during penalty shootouts at Wembley, perhaps we don’t let it get that far this time!
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