Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has played down suggestions that his side’s tendency to concede goals shortly after making substitutions is anything more than coincidence.
In last weekend’s 4-2 win over Bournemouth at Anfield, the Reds were leading 2-0 when Slot withdrew new full-backs Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong on the hour mark.
Just four minutes later, Cherries forward Antoine Semenyo pulled a goal back before going on to score a brace.
Frimpong has since been ruled out for a month with a hamstring injury.
The previous week in the Community Shield, Slot had replaced midfielder Curtis Jones and new striker Hugo Ekitike, only for Crystal Palace’s Ismaila Sarr to equalise within six minutes of the changes.
Slot insisted the small sample size made it premature to draw conclusions, stressing his confidence in the strength and depth of Liverpool’s squad.
“Most changes I’ve made in the game are due to match fitness and players who were not available in the whole pre-season,” said the Liverpool boss.
“So Hugo Ekitike, for example, that I took off twice, needs to make a step from Bundesliga to the Premier League and missed out a part of pre-season, and you want to keep him fit for the upcoming games, weeks, months as well.
“Sometimes you need to take this into account, although that’s sometimes difficult for a fan or a pundit because they are like, ‘you need to win this game’.
“Yeah, we need to win this game, but we need to keep them fit for the rest of the season as well and we do have players on the bench that are equal to the ones that start, so then you need to use your squad.
“I see it as a coincidence that we’ve conceded our goals after the substitutions but time will tell if I’m right or wrong.
“But, on the other hand, we also scored a goal after a substitution – two, by the way, from Federico and Mo.”
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