Arne Slot has admitted that he “maybe” made mistakes in the run-up to the Carabao Cup final, particularly regarding Wataru Endo‘s lack of minutes.
In the four games leading up to the March international break, Ryan Gravenberch played 431 minutes in Liverpool’s midfield while Endo amassed a measly 29.
With the Dutchamn showing signs of obvious fatigue, the decision to overlook the Japan captain – especially against bottom-of-the-table Southampton – felt naive.
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Liverpool ultimately lost the Carabao Cup final after exiting the Champions League, and the break afforded Slot the time to reflect on where the Reds went wrong.
“Maybe, maybe, maybe I made the biggest mistake by not rotating enough,” the boss admitted to the press, including the Liverpool Echo.
“Not rotating enough in the lineup for Newcastle, but I thought there were four days in between, they had enough rest.”
‘Endo deserved maybe to come in’
Gravenberch has started every league fixture this season and all but one of Liverpool’s European games, playing the third-most minutes of any Red so far.
Come the campaign’s conclusion, he will likely have played over double the number of minutes he managed last time around, making him a good example of a player losing form due to probable fatigue.
The head coach, however, elected not to use backup defensive midfielder Endo, something he admits may have been the wrong choice.
Slot explained: “It is too simple to only say we were outworked.
“We have to give credit to everything Newcastle did because in the end we conceded a corner. That is nothing to do with a sprint or tracking back or whatever, it is just conceding a corner.
“He (Endo) deserved maybe to come in if you look at the bigger picture of what he has done for the team, also in the League Cup.
“But as long as I am here now, for eight or nine months, I think you will be surprised if we are 1-0 or 2-0 down and I would have brought in a player that has hardly ever scored a goal. That would be a strange substitution.
“If we are 1-0 up, you can expect me to bring in Wata.
“In all the other occasions if we need a goal as we did, I took Ibou (Konate) off, put a midfielder in the last line, brought in Curtis, Ryan played as a right centre-back, Curtis started to play as a more offensive midfielder than Ryan.
“I brought in Harvey who can score a goal, I brought in Federico who can score a goal, I had Darwin in the team, I had Cody in the team, I had Mo in the team.
“So all the attackers were in the team and maybe I have to agree with you, that after 10 minutes I should have taken someone off to bring Wata in, but you don’t see many managers taking a player off after 10 minutes.
“Maybe I made the wrong decision by not starting him, that’s better to say, but we will never know.
“But we won against Newcastle with the ones that started, at home, and we outplayed them in the second half in Newcastle with the players that started in the final. So there was rationale behind the line-up.”
For now, Slot’s rotation conundrums should subside as Liverpool play just once a week until the end of the season.
It is, however, an area that will need thought over the summer.
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