Arne Slot addresses Liverpool decision that backfired in Galatasaray defeat

Arne Slot suggested he had no regrets about benching Mohamed Salah after Liverpool's 1-0 defeat to Galatasaray. The Reds managed only four shots on target despite dominating the ball in Istanbul, the same number they managed in their defeat to Crystal Palace in the Premier League at the weekend. Arne Slot picked Salah to start on the bench at RAMS Park and called upon the Egyptian as part of a triple substitution on the hour mark with Alexander Isak and Conor Bradley also introduced.

Yet Slot hinted that he doesn't harbour any regrets about benching Salah, Liverpool's top goalscorer last season and their long-time talisman in attack. Discussing his decision to rotate his team, with British record signing Isak dropping to the bench along with Mac Allister and Bradley, Slot said he had little choice but to make changes as the Merseyside outfit produced another disjointed display.

Slot said: "There are a few players for us that missed pre-season so you cannot play them every game. Well, you can, but then it becomes a risk of players getting injured. We see this more and more because the demands go up more and more. And if the demands go up more and more, you have to prepare players for these demands.

"That means it's not always that I want to rotate but I sometimes just need to because a player is not ready to play three times 90 minutes in seven or eight days. I like my squad so much but we don't have 25, 26. If we end up with two, three or four injuries and down to 15 or 16 players with Rio [Ngumoha] and Trey [Nyoni] are two of these, and need to play almost all the minutes, then things can become complicated.

"This is a decision we made together. I completely believe in this because if you have 25, it's very hard to manage the squad. As a result of that, with Hugo [Ekitike], Alex, Conor and Mac Allister not having the pre-season a player should have, that results in the fact I cannot play them every time.

"Jeremie played a lot of times as a wing-back or right winger at Leverkusen. He played there in pre-season for us. He's one of the players that can replace Mo in that position. I don't see many others that can play in that position which is a favourite for them. Jeremie it is one of his favourite positions.

"He plays there for the national team always. He's a player that can play there. Normally Galatasaray play with a left winger inverted and the full-back really high and the winger plays in the midfield. But they did it the opposite today. Both of them can play really well in that position.

"Mo has played a lot of minutes already so we decided to do it today like this. In the first half I was quite happy with the way we played actually."

Despite Slot's satisfaction with the first 45 minutes it was Victor Osimhen's first-half penalty, after Dominik Szoboszlai caught Baris Alper Yilmaz in the face with a wild arm, that did the damage as the Turkish champions inflicted back-to-back defeats on the Premier League champions.

The Reds also lost Alisson Becker and Hugo Ekitike to injury in the second half. The Dutch coach has already ruled the Brazilian goalkeeper out of facing Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening, meaning Giorgi Mamardashvili will make his Premier League debut between the sticks.

Liverpool will be desperate to bounce back to consecutive losses, with title rivals Arsenal playing earlier than them at home to West Ham in a match they are expected to win. Victory would take the Gunners at least temporarily top of the table.