-Credit:Nikki Dyer – LFC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Liverpool, once again, finds itself in a position where it still has four trophies to fight for in the second half of the season. And even if it doesn’t turn around the Carabao Cup semi-final tie with Spurs, that will only cut one game from its potential fixture list.
“My worry for Liverpool — I just hope the Liverpool manager’s not obsessed with winning a domestic cup,” Jamie Carragher said in December. “I’m like get out of them! You know what I mean, in some ways.”
And fixture is a legitimate concern. There are two more Champions League group matches in the new format and the Reds have come unstuck in the recent past when it comes to being involved in too many competitions.
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“I’m terrified of all these cups piling up on us,” Carragher continued. “And then you get to March. That happened last season. And it happened two or three years before, under the clock of, you know, actually I knew already in February, they are going for four trophies.
“Last season we ended up with one. A couple of years ago, we ended up with two, but we ended up with two that we wanted (the least). We got beat last day of the season, Premier League, and we lost the Champions League final.
“So if I’m Slot, if he wins the league, he’s a Liverpool legend, he’s done. Don’t let it worry us for the next four years or whatever our work is here. You know, if he wins the Carabao Cup, he’s not going to move the dial that much.”
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot. -Credit:Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
So far, though, the evidence is that Slot is managing the health of his roster well. Alisson Becker and Diogo Jota have had their usual stints on the treatment table but right now, only Joe Gomez is injured.
“That’s in this moment,” Slot said during his press conference when asked about his roster’s relatively clean bill of health. “Things can be totally different but it is definitely helpful for any manager to have all their players available. We almost have that at the moment.
“Teams in England play a lot of games so it helps if they are available. Some teams have bigger squads than us, some teams don’t. The teams in competition with us would have loved to have all their players available. Let’s hope we can continue like this.”
Liverpool is in a good place and in part, at least, that has to be down to the change in style of play. Slot’s side is more controlled now and runs less, but is just as effective — it remains a winning machine.
Arne Slot head coach of Liverpool talking with his team during a training session at AXA Training Centre on December 20, 2024 -Credit:Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
“I don’t see a lot of difference,” Wataru Endo told reporters at Anfield over the weekend when asked about the changes Slot has implemented compared to Jurgen Klopp. “We want to put pressure high. Offensively, I think the new manager is more stable.
“He likes the players to stay in the positions how he wants. I think that is a difference but I really enjoy how he plays at the moment, and I think everyone enjoys playing his tactics.
“I saw the data about the running distance. Of course, we need to run and the new manager also wants us to fight and [put in] hard work, but I think it’s good.”
So far, certainly, it appears to be working. Liverpool remains light in a couple of positions — in holding midfield, for instance — but Slot’s shift in style seems to have helped lead to fewer injuries. The only true verdict will be in how many trophies the Dutch coach is holding aloft at the end of the season — which for now could be anything from zero to four.