Arne Slot praised Liverpool’s squad depth after their 2-1 win over Everton in the 247th Merseyside derby.
The manager suggested he may rotate heavily for Tuesday’s Carabao Cup clash with Southampton.
Slot made four changes from the midweek victory over Atletico Madrid, bringing in Conor Bradley, Milos Kerkez, Hugo Ekitike and Alexis Mac Allister.
Ryan Gravenberch opened the scoring and set up Ekitike for the second, before Idrissa Gueye pulled one back as Liverpool secured a fifth straight win.
“It’s the reason why teams like us and the ones in Europe need a squad like this, you play so many games,” Slot said.
“It’s not an excuse, we accept it. We have had some issues with Alexander Isak not training for four months, Mac Allister missing out a lot, I can go on and on.
“The good thing is I have the option to rotate throughout the week, and the ones that played three times 90 minutes are Virgil (van Dijk), Ibou (Ibrahima Konate), Mo (Mohamed Salah), Ryan and Dom (Dominik Szoboszlai), the ones that are used to this intensity at this level, and again they showed up really good.
“I can tell you now you won’t be seeing them on Tuesday.
“We managed the game really well but we didn’t manage some moments really well. I said this before the game. There’s a lot to like but we have to understand that a moment can change momentum.
“This is what happened against Bournemouth, Newcastle and Atletico. We have to understand that a moment can change a game no matter how well you are playing, always fight for those moments.
“This is where we can improve.
“But we managed the game in general really well, I don’t think they had a chance after 2-1. But it always feels a bit difficult if you’re only 2-1 up.
“These are very good players but we have played in different set-ups, really good moments for large parts of the game.”
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