Liverpool manager Arne Slot confirmed after the 2-1 win over Lille in the Champions League that Curtis Jones has been withdrawn due to injury.
Goals from Mohamed Salah and Harvey Elliott fired the Reds to their seventh straight win in the league phase of the reformatted competition, securing placement among the top eight and automatic placement in the knockout phase.
It wasn’t as easy a night as Slot would have liked, after tough back-to-back Premier League games against Nottingham Forest and Brentford, and things were further complicated when the Dutchman was forced into half-time substitutions.
Slot planned a rotation for his side to rest key players, with Dominik Szoboszlai coming on along with Ryan Gravenberch to play only the first half. But those plans had to be changed when Jones felt a twinge before half-time, prompting the former Feyenoord boss to go in a different direction.
“Yeah, the idea was to take Dom and Ryan off at halftime, but unfortunately Curtis couldn’t continue so that’s why Dom stayed a little longer,” Slott told reporters. “There was a moment in the game. What he felt, he said, ‘Let’s play five more minutes and then see how it is.’ But he said he had to come out at half-time.
“We wanted to win this game, but we were also aware of the fact that we had to deal with the workload. We would have been really, really, really unhappy if we had lost twice and still not been in the top eight. As I know now, I think that 18 points would be enough for a game among eight, but with 21 there is no discussion.”
Asked about the result and LiverpoolSlot added: “We’re happy to be in the top eight. This league table doesn’t tell you anything.
“Maybe number 24 is better than number 16, but 16 had an easier draw. We want to be at the top, but we have to wait and see if that will be an advantage.
“As a manager, I’m a bit more impressed than the crowd or people watching TV. I knew that [Lille] they were 21 games unbeaten, but they won both Real and Atletico Madrid and they did it without the best players in the world, with the greatest respect. I wasn’t happy about the one conceded chance and one conceded goal.”
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