Arne Slot previews his Liverpool side’s FA Cup third-round clash against Barnsley at Anfield on Monday night
Arne Slot has been discussing his team selection for Liverpool’s FA Cup clash with Barnsley(Image: Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
Arne Slot isn’t the first Liverpool boss to discover the perils of underestimating the FA Cup. And similar to Rafael Benitez and Jurgen Klopp before him, the Dutchman will hope to learn from his experience.
Slot had to field accusations of disrespecting the world’s most renowned domestic knockout competition last season when fielding a largely scratch side in the fourth round 1-0 defeat at a Plymouth Argyle side who were ultimately relegated from the Championship.
Benitez prompted a similar fury after a loss at Burnley in 2005 while Klopp’s early years were littered with underwhelming FA Cup results with understrength line-ups.
READ MORE: BREAKING Conor Bradley season over after Liverpool confirm ‘significant knee injury’READ MORE: Arne Slot provides Hugo Ekitike and Liverpool injuries update as Federico Chiesa hint dropped
That both managers went on to lift the trophy at Liverpool – Benitez the following season, Klopp helming the Reds’ eighth and most recent triumph in 2022 – indicates the worth of the tournament ultimately registered.
Slot, though, has pointed to the landscape having now changed, and with the Reds not having the latter stages of the League Cup to negotiate – and already missing the likes of Mohamed Salah, Alexander Isak, Giovanni Leoni, Wataru Endo and now Conor Bradley- he is adamant Liverpool will field a much stronger team for the FA Cup third-round visit of League One side Barnsley on Monday evening.
“Last season I made the decision that some players needed to rest in the FA Cup because you cannot play every player every single time,” said the Reds boss.
“But it is obvious that we are not in the League Cup any more and the FA Cup has always been very important for this club.
“Sometimes in a season when you are still competing for the League Cup, the Champions League and the league, with the amount of players we had last season and we have this season, you have to make choices.
“I can guarantee you that on Monday you will see all the players you see (against Arsenal on Thursday), maybe with some substitutions but then they will be on the bench, so that is going to be different from last season against Plymouth.
“I am not sure because we all know that in the FA Cup or cup competitions things can happen, but you cannot compare Plymouth away with the players we played back then to Barnsley at home.”
Indeed, of the 14 players who featured at Home Park last February, five are no longer at the club, two are out on loan, three are injured, three have just 11 Liverpool starts between them and the other, Joe Gomez, limped off in the early stages.
The defeat to Plymouth was echoed by the sorry 3-0 League Cup exit at home to Crystal Palace in October when Slot fielded an almost unrecognisable starting line-up.
The Reds’ record in the FA Cup over the past decade is poor, with the defeat to Plymouth the seventh time in the last 10 years they have failed to reach the fifth round.
Gomez, Federico Chiesa, Andy Robertson, Curtis Jones, Giorgi Mamardashvili and teenage duo Trey Nyoni and Rio Ngumoha are all likely starters against Barnsley, whose win at Peterborough in the last round was one of only two victories in their last nine in all competitions.
The Yorkshire side sit 17th in League One but boast the joint-top scorer in the division in Davis Keillor-Dunn. And they have won on their last two visits at Anfield – in the FA Cup in 2008 and Premier League 11 years earlier – and haven’t lost at the stadium since 1959.
“I’ve been informed the last time they played against us, so we take them as we took Plymouth – very serious as well,” said Slot.
“People would argue if they look at the line-up but I have again have to tell them why did we do it, why did we play the League Cup against Crystal Palace with the players we have played, that is because if we had played maybe Virgil (van Dijk) and these players again I would have maybe missed out on them on Thursday as well.”
