Arne Slot hinted at her Liverpool team changes for the home match of tomorrow with Southampton – but insisted that they will not be made with the return match against Paris Saint -Germain in mind.
Liverpool won an extremely lucky victory of 1-0 at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday evening thanks to an amazing performance of the late strike of the goalkeeper and the replacement Harvey Elliott.
They meet again in the second stage of their Champions League, in the round of 16, giving Slot a headache while they are looking to maintain their 13 points at the top of the Premier League and keep the players fresh.
Changes expected for Liverpool against modest saints
The tastes of Elliott, Darwin Nunez, Curtis Jones and Kostas Tsimikas may well, but Slot insists that this does not mean that they would treat the saints on a light rocky foot.
“The one against Southampton is the most important”‼ ️
Arne Slot says that future games against PSG and Newcastle will not have an impact on the selection of her team for Southampton 🔴 pic.twitter.com/xcawszagdn
– Sky Sports News (@SkysportsNews) March 7, 2025
He said, “If I choose to play other players, it’s because I think it’s the greatest chance of winning the match tomorrow and not because I want to rest for the match against PSG.
“If there were three, four, five days between the last match and this one, I would probably have started the same 11 again, even if it was only two days between the two for the next one.
“Since there are only two days between the two and we had to fight very hard and it is not the first game after being absent for three or four weeks, it is probably the 50th game in three months – I do not know how much – so you take this into account, but you take the quality of the team you are confronted with, you take the form of the players, how much they are in good shape.”
Everyone needs a little luck – Slot
Slot admitted that the Reds made their chance in the French capital, but insisted that it was impossible to play well in each match given the calendar, which includes the final of the EFL Cup next Sunday against Newcastle.
He added: “I would say that we were not lucky, we were very lucky, but as Michael Jordan said one day” the more you work hard, the more luck you are “and it is the greatest compliment you have to give to the players.
“They worked incredibly hard and I think that the second half that we did not control the possession of the ball, not the dominant team at all, but we checked them better than in the first half.
“If you want to win something, if it’s the Premier League or the League Cup, the Champions League or the FA Cup, you must have a game of time in time, a game where you are not playing your best football and you are lucky, which may not be lucky if you work as hard as us, to get out of it with a result.
“There are no teams that play 38 games that only play a good football. Real Madrid is one of the best examples of this, they also find a way to win a match if the other team is better than them.
“Our goal is now on Southampton, the first of the three finals to play in the coming week.”
The Liverpool boss rents Amazing Alisson
Slot also paid tribute to the Brazilian international Alisson, sensational against PSG.
“I think that becoming the best goalkeeper in the world you sometimes need to make backups that others would not make,” he said. “I think he did one or two on Wednesday. He had two world class stops in great times for us. »»
Cody Gakpo missed PSG due to an ankle problem and a doubt remains for the weekend.
“He did not train yesterday, so let’s see if he can train with us today,” said Slot. “Again, call. It is not a long -term injury, but he still had a little pain yesterday, so he couldn’t train. »»
Read our full overview for Liverpool against Southampton here…
