Arne Slot is currently negotiating his first hectic period of fixtures as Liverpool head coach, although he’s identified one positive of the intense scheduling.
Saturday’s visit to Wolves will be the Reds’ fifth match in a fortnight amid a 22-day window of seven games, something that his team will once again face after the October international break.
While several players have justifiably called out the heavy workload thrust upon elite footballers in 2024, the LFC boss has found a plus point to having so many matches in a short space of time.
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Slot told reporters at this morning’s press conference (via Liverpool Echo): “The positive about the amount of games is the players play a lot of minutes and they understand they can’t play every game to keep them fit to perform.
“As long as they accept the situation, which they are – I see them smile a lot – that is a positive thing for us. I have to keep them alert.”
It speaks to Slot’s outlook that he can find a plausible positive to a topic which has becoming increasingly problematic at the highest level in football, with players making their voices heard about the ever-intensifying workloads they now face.
The expansion of long-standing tournaments and creation of other competitions has left some of the sport’s biggest names with barely any time to breathe between one game and the next, and the growing proliferation of muscle injuries over the past couple of years has highlighted the dangers of flogging them to extremes.
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However, we can see why the Liverpool boss views a heavy fixture schedule as not an entirely bad thing when it enables all of his squad to receive game-time, with the Dutchman making nine changes to his starting line-up for the midweek Carabao Cup win over West Ham.
Particularly in attack, Slot is blessed with high-quality options who’ve presented him with a pleasant dilemma as to his team selection for tomorrow’s clash against Wolves.
Over the Reds’ last two matches, Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo have scored twice each, with Mo Salah and Darwin Nunez also finding the net and Federico Chiesa capping an impressive display against the Irons with an assist.
When we have our entire attacking roster available, you could make a case for any of the six players to start, such is the formidable depth of which the boss can avail. It’s unlikely to remain that way for the entire season as injuries inevitably take hold at some point, but for now it’s something we can thoroughly enjoy.
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