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Liverpool manager Arne Slot has explained why he left some of the club’s biggest stars at home ahead of Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League game against PSV.

Liverpool’s announcement of a 21-man travelling squad for their Champions League game against the Dutch side on Wednesday raised a few concerns as a few notable names were omitted.

Slot left out Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Momahed Salah and Luis Diaz for the PSV trip.

Slot named several youngsters in place of the omitted first-team stars, with James Norris, Isaac Mabaya, James McConnell, Tyler Morton, Trey Nyoni, Kieran Morrison, Jayden Danns, and Trent Kone-Doherty all travelling with the other first-team players.

With Liverpool still needing a result to finish first on the table, Slot’s decision is seen as one that could cost the Reds a chance to secure maximum points.

There is also the feeling that Slot made the decision due to Liverpool’s weekend Premier League game against Bournemouth.

However, the Liverpool manager has revealed that his plan to allow some players rest was more of a long-term plan and was not affected by the game on Saturday.

Arne Slot’s reason for omitting some players

Speaking during the pre-match press conference after arriving in his home country, the head coach detailed the idea behind the decision.

Asked whether the game was a chance for the younger players to prove themselves, Slot said:

“They don’t need to prove themselves, we know what the quality is for the players that are going to play tomorrow.

“We are playing, like all the teams in Europe, many, many, many games and these players are ready.”

Slot also clarified his decision to leave some senior players behind, adding:

“All the ones that are left behind could have played tomorrow but for the long term – so, it doesn’t tell you anything about the short term, doesn’t tell us anything about Saturday’s game – but for the long term.

“If you look back at our season, it has been almost every time after three or four or five weeks.

We gave them a break during the week when there was a League Cup or an FA Cup [game] if there was a moment for them to get some freshness back we have always done that.

“It took me a while to understand this new [Champions League] format.

I always say when I think I’m 100 per cent sure, I use ‘99.9’ but now I can say I’m 100 per cent sure that it doesn’t matter at all if we end up one or two [in the table] because we will play 14, 15, 16, 17 and then in the end it’s a draw [for] which of the teams we are going to face.

“So, this is a game for us – because we are now No.1 or No.2, we cannot drop to No.3 – that has no importance of result coming to the league table.

“But a very wise man once said to me, ‘I have never seen anything good coming from losing a football game,’ so we are not going into the game tomorrow trying to lose the game; we will do everything we can to try to win it, of course.”

Slot also added that the possibility of potential injuries to some players in the future also informed his decision to give some players more minutes.

“The second thing is that because we mainly start with 13 or 14 players that have shared most of the playing time, the ones that haven’t played a lot, it’s very useful for them to have 90 minutes,” he added.

“Because if we do get into injury problems, these players will have a bit of game rhythm then as well.

“So, it’s a choice that we’ve made for the long term.

It doesn’t tell you anything about the results in the short term but definitely it helps us for the long term.”

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