Arne Slot says his injury-ravaged Liverpool squad are feeling the strain of the hectic schedule after falling to a late 3-2 defeat at Bournemouth.
Liverpool conceded with the last kick of the game and finished with a patched-up back four that included two midfielders in Wataru Endo and Dominik Szoboszlai who had to fill in for other absentees.
Slot refused to criticise his players who are on a run of five Premier League games without a win, but appeared to be frustrated by the growing injury list and the short turnaround after Wednesday’s Champions League trip to Marseille.
“It’s safe to say we had a few players who ran out of energy,” Slot said.
“I cannot even criticise the players for that because two days ago we had an away game in Europe. We’re the only team who played Champions League that has only two days inbetween. I mainly played the same players because of the amount that we have available.”
Ibrahima Konate missed the game after the passing of his father and Joe Gomez was forced off after 27 minutes to add to the long-term injuries to Conor Bradley and Giovanni Leoni.
Record signing Alexander Isak is out with a knee injury and Federico Chiesa was missing with a muscle issue, and Slot said he had to rest Hugo Ekitike, who started against Marseille, as a result. Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo started in attack.
“He (Ekitike) didn’t start because I only have one No 9 available and I have to manage his minutes,” Slot added.
“It’s the same with Jeremie Frimpong, I could see the energy running out.
“And with Milos Kerkez, it was obvious before the game that he can’t play another 90. I have to keep them fit and manage their load. Yesterday when performance staff came to me and said if we had an extra day, he wouldn’t have trained, so he can recover a bit more, you’re already in a risk zone.”
Slot decided against answering any questions about whether he can bring in new recruits but pushed back when it was suggested that the injury to Gomez has left Liverpool short.
“Now, are we now short…?” Slot replied.
When the reporter added that Liverpool has been short for some time, Slot said: “That’s your opinion.”