Jurgen Klopp has stood firm over his Liverpool team selection for the resounding 0-3 defeat at home to Atalanta on Thursday night.
The German made six alterations to his starting line-up from the Manchester United game last weekend, with the likes of Mo Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai and Luis Diaz dropping to the bench, but a feeble first half saw him make a triple substitution at half-time.
Speaking to the media afterwards, the 56-year-old insisted that he had no regrets over the heavy rotation that he implemeneted, believing it to be a necessity amid a hectic fixture schedule.
Klopp said (via Liverpool World): “That’s how it is. You lose the game, then your changes are questionable. I get that, 100%.
“For the reasons I did it I would do exactly the same way again, but as I said, if you want to be good in the rest of the season then we have to make changes. We have to. We didn’t take off the three ‘worst’ players.”
He added: “By the way, we lost the second half 2-0 and the first half 1-0, so I don’t know which one was better. It’s just how it is. It’s absolutely fine. I am responsible for this result first and foremost, I know that, but the decision I would probably take the same.”
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Some Liverpool fans will understandably question why Klopp benched the likes of Salah, Szoboszlai and Andy Robertson against an Atalanta team who’ve proven to be a strong side in various European competitions in recent years.
The fact that those three (along with Diaz and the returning Diogo Jota) were deployed at half-time or during the second half shows that the manager wasn’t best pleased with the performances of the players who were selected to start last night.
However, with the German benefitting from far greater squad depth than at any point in recent months, and with a must-win Premier League game against Crystal Palace coming up on Sunday, one can also see why he’d have decided to switch things up when he finally had the luxury to do so.
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The Liverpool team which was named prior to kick-off wasn’t exactly a weak one, and the injury woes of the past few weeks had left some players having virtually no rest at all.
Had the Reds won last night, we’d all be saying how ingenious it was from Klopp to freshen things up and make the most of the depth available to him. Alas, when it goes as badly wrong as it did, questions will inevitably be asked.
The German took a legitimate gamble but unfortunately it didn’t pay off. Nonetheless, we can expect to see quite a few big names restored to the starting XI for the Palace game.
szobo a good player but he is the weak link when he plays as he never runs back when he loses ball he just strolls which happened against atalanta