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Arne Slot should take on familiar Jurgen Klopp warning as Liverpool run comes to an end

Slot is making use of the squad left behind by Jurgen Klopp
-Credit: (Image: Getty)


Liverpool's season hit its first snag on Saturday with defeat by Nottingham Forest, but Arne Slot will know that he and his players cannot dwell on the defeat by Nottingham Forest.

The Reds won their opening three games of the season prior to the September international break, with those three games occurring across the space of 16 days.

Now, with the EFL Cup and Champions League entering the equation, Liverpool will play twice a week until the October international break, and the team is back in action on Tuesday as Slot and his players travel to Italy to take on AC Milan.

For the first time this season, Slot will have to factor in the state of his players when he picks his team at the San Siro, with a quick turnaround between the defeat by Forest and kick-off in Milan.

Jurgen Klopp was a manager who was never afraid to rotate his players, and Slot may benefit from adopting a similar mindset - particularly given some of his players looked very flat at Anfield on Saturday.

Speaking towards the end of last season, after a much-changed Liverpool side had beaten Fulham, Klopp admitted he had to rotate for the sake of his players. “We made these changes because we were 100 percent convinced we had to, it was not a gamble. We play on Wednesday and then Saturday... We needed to make these changes before players give me the obvious sign, ‘sorry, I’m done’.”

Mohamed Salah played in Egypt and Botswana during the September international break, while there were also three South Americans in the line-up to face Forest.

Salah and Colombian Luis Diaz were part of a tired-looking attack, while Alexis Mac Allister was withdrawn after an hour following an international break that was filled with injury scares.

Liverpool's squad is not as deep as the likes of Manchester City and Arsenal, but Slot does have players like Wataru Endo, Darwin Nunez, Cody Gakpo, Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott who have all proved they can do a job for the Reds. Federicio Chiesa, too, will hope to make his debut.

After naming an unchanged team for three Premier League games in a row, it might now be time for Slot to shuffle his pack.