Arne Slot was instructed to learn the lessons of rotation in his first season at Liverpool, and now his first chance to put it into practice awaits.
In the four league games so far, Slot has only used 13 different players in his starting lineups, with a further eight utilised from the bench.
Currently, he has not deviated from his trusted players, just as he did last season, but a run of seven games in 21 days calls for utilising squad depth, starting on Wednesday.
Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid will visit Anfield off the back of one win, two draws, and a defeat in La Liga, but could be counting their losses with four new injuries over the weekend.
Liverpool, on the other hand, have only Curtis Jones in the treatment room with Alexander Isak now able to play 45 minutes “or a little bit more,” says Slot.
Changing Champions League approach
Liverpool won seven of their eight league phase games last season to sit at the top of the table heading into the knockout rounds, only to face eventual winners PSG in the last 16.
To get there, Slot named a strong XI for the first seven games before rotating in the defeat at PSV, and while impressive it did little to serve Liverpool in their efforts elsewhere or for the knockouts.
Before he knew Liverpool had to play PSG, Slot admitted he could be forced to rethink his selection choices if the investment in the competition’s early stages was not returned in kind.
“If in the end, it means by playing your starters always, skipping that round and still having a very difficult draw, then we maybe are going to think about it differently next season, what we are going to do in the group stage,” he said.
No surprises then that after Liverpool were knocked out, he conceded: “It is something now to take into consideration about how much worth it is to end up first in the league table if you can face Paris Saint-Germain in the next round.”
Sixteen points was enough to avoid the play-off round and finish in the top eight last season, five points fewer than what Liverpool amassed, and that has to be on Slot’s mind.
Liverpool have the options to rotate
Liverpool will want to get the points on the board early rather than chase them late in the league phase, but Slot has to look at the bigger picture against Atletico.
Everton make the trip in the early 12.30pm kickoff on Saturday, 62 hours after the final whistle against Simeone’s side, and then there are still four games to play over 12 days.
Slot is averaging 0.75 changes per game so far, but what we have seen in Liverpool’s early wins is that the result has been influenced by subs.
Federico Chiesa and Rio Ngumoha scored the winners against Bournemouth and Newcastle, respectively; Jones won the free-kick against Arsenal, and Jeremie Frimpong forced the Burnley handball.
For Liverpool to win further silverware, the entire squad must contribute and Slot has been shown that is possible, and now it’s over to him to embrace change on his team sheet.
Andy Robertson and Conor Bradley are surely primed for their first starts of the campaign, and Joe Gomez will be putting his hand up to help share the load at centre-back – all reliable options you would not blink at starting.
And Giorgi Mamardashvili is still waiting for his debut, although that is more likely to come against Southampton in the League Cup.
With Isak ready to play at least 45 minutes, he can give Hugo Ekitike a break after an intense start to life in England, which would work in tandem with a few pre-planned substitutions.
Dominik Szoboszlai has played every minute of every game, while Ryan Gravenberch ought to be managed whenever possible to avoid the fatigue that hit him at the backend of last season.
Jones’ injury is not ideal in that respect, but Wataru Endo is a reliable option to help ease the load, especially with Alexis Mac Allister still needing to be treated with care.
The summer window saw the squad undertake a significant overhaul to make the squad in Slot’s image, and the visit of Atletico represents the perfect time for the Dutchman to put the lessons of last season into practice.