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Arne Slot has promised not to repeat last season’s FA Cup gamble against Plymouth when Liverpool entertain Barnsley in the third round on Monday. One player he will not be able to select, however, is Conor Bradley after it was confirmed the right-back will have to undergo surgery on the knee injury he sustained in Thursday’s goalless draw with Arsenal and is likely to rule him out for the rest of the season.
Slot changed all 10 outfield players for the fourth-round tie at Home Park and was punished as Plymouth, then bottom of the Championship, produced a huge shock to win 1-0. He compounded his selection risk with an inexperienced bench that included only two senior players; Curtis Jones and Darwin Núñez. Slot stands by his decision on the basis Liverpool were challenging for four trophies at the time. But with his team out of the Carabao Cup and a distant fourth in the Premier League this season, that pressure no longer applies.
“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,” Slot said. “But it’s obvious that we’re not in the League Cup anymore and the FA Cup has always been very important for us, but sometimes in a season where you are still competing for the League Cup, for the Champions League and the league, with the amount of players we had last season and have this season, you have to make choices.
“But I can guarantee you that on Monday you will see all the players you saw against Arsenal, maybe with some substitutions, but then they will be on the bench. So that’s going to be different than last season against Plymouth.”
Slot also made 10 changes for this season’s Carabao Cup exit against Crystal Palace and he claims Liverpool’s squad, already stretched before Bradley’s confirmed long-term absence, could have suffered more problems had he not rested senior players that night.
“We all know in cup competitions things can happen, but you cannot compare Plymouth away with the players we played back then to Barnsley at home,” said the head coach. “I was just informed the last time Barnsley played against us they beat us in 2008 in our stadium. We take them very seriously. As we took Plymouth as well, and people would argue that if they look at the lineup.
“But then I again have to tell them why we did this, and why did we play the League Cup against Crystal Palace with the players we’ve played. That is because if we had played Virgil [van Dijk] and these players again maybe I would have missed out on them against Arsenal as well.”
Bradley had not sustained an ACL injury but there is damage to the bone and ligaments in the 22-year-old’s left knee. He will have an operation in the coming days and faces a race against time to be fit for the World Cup should Northern Ireland qualify for the tournament via the play-offs.
This is the latest injury setback Bradley has suffered since making his debut for Liverpool in September 2021 and one that will be remembered for Gabriel Martinelli’s reaction to the player as he lay stricken on the turf at the Emirates Stadium. Having dropped the ball on Bradley, Martinelli then tried to aggressively push him off the pitch, leading to angry reactions from Bradley’s teammates. Arsenanl’s Brazilian winger subsequently apologised for his actions.
Hugo Ekitiké could be available against the League One strugglers having missed Liverpool’s last two games with a hamstring problem.
