{"id":432304,"date":"2026-01-25T12:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T12:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/432304\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T12:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T12:56:09","slug":"why-arne-slot-benched-hugo-ekitike-for-liverpools-defeat-at-bournemouth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/432304\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Arne Slot Benched Hugo Ekitike for Liverpool\u2019s Defeat at Bournemouth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arne Slot\u2019s decision to drop Hugo Ekitik\u00e9 to the bench for Liverpool\u2019s 3\u20132 defeat to Bournemouth surprised many, but the Dutchman insisted post-match there was nothing sinister in the move.<\/p>\n

After playing midweek in the Champions League against Marseille, Slot decided that Ekitike\u2019s minutes needed managing as the club have some big fixtures coming up both domestically and abroad\u2014matches he can\u2019t call on \u00a3125 million Alexander Isak for because of a broken leg.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you could see in our line-up, I decided not to play Hugo [Ekitike]. That was not because I didn’t like him or he wasn’t good against Marseille<\/a>, it was simply because I only have one No.9 available for the upcoming weeks and months,\u201d Slot argued in his post-match presser.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was out two weeks ago and with so many games to play, you have to manage his minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

In reality, Slot\u2019s management of Ekitik\u00e9\u2019s minutes meant a 59th minute introduction in place of Alexis Mac Allister.<\/p>\n

Slot Speak Sense But Result Hugely Frustrating\"Alexis<\/p>\n

Liverpool fell to defeat on the south coast. | Catherine Ivill\/AMA\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Slot\u2019s decision to not play Ekitik\u00e9 backfired in the sense that Liverpool<\/a> did not emerge with a positive result against Bournemouth. It had looked like the Reds were completely out of the game after two quick goals from Evanilson and David Jim\u00e9nez, but Virgil van Dijk\u2019s header at the end of the first half gave the champions a route back into the game.<\/p>\n

Ekitik\u00e9 came on with the game at 2\u20131, 20 minutes before Dominik Szoboszlai rifled home a free-kick that suggested Liverpool could go on to the win the game against the odds. Instead, a James Hill long throw led to a horrible scramble in the visitors penalty area\u2014a squabble for the ball that resulted in Amine Adli dramatically firing home in the fifth minute of stoppage-time.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrustrating, of course, because conceding a goal is always frustrating but especially if there’s no time left to come back into the game,\u201d Slot bemoaned. \u201cI think it’s safe to say they could have scored the 3-2 also a little bit earlier and what I mean with that is I think after we scored the 2-2, we were still trying but I think it’s safe to say a few players of ours ran out of energy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot even criticise them for that because two days ago we had to play an away game in Europe. We are the only team that played [in the] Champions League that has two days between in this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liverpool Must Recover From Latest Setback… Fast\"Arne<\/p>\n

Arne Slot has big games coming up. | Oli Scarff\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Liverpool have no time to lick their wounds and fret about their position in the Premier League<\/a> top four. They could finish the weekend as low as sixth, should Manchester United get a positive result away at leaders Arsenal and Chelsea beat Crystal Palace on the road, but must focus on three huge games over the next two weeks.<\/p>\n

First on the menu is Qaraba\u011f, for what is the final game of the Champions League<\/a> league phase. Victory will secure safe passage through to the round of 16, but a slip-up, coupled with results elsewhere, could see the Reds slip out of the top eight and into the knockout phase play-offs. Liverpool are at least guaranteed to be seeds if that happens, meaning they would have home advantage in the second leg.<\/p>\n

Newcastle United then travel to Anfield on Saturday afternoon for a heavyweight Premier League clash, eight days before Pep Guardiola and Manchester City<\/a> turn up to put further pressure on Slot.<\/p>\n

READ THE LATEST LIVERPOOL NEWS, TRANSFER RUMOURS AND MORE<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arne Slot\u2019s decision to drop Hugo Ekitik\u00e9 to the bench for Liverpool\u2019s 3\u20132 defeat to Bournemouth surprised many,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432305,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-432304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}