Liverpool expert David Lynch tells Sports Mole that the Champions League tie with Bologna is a perfect chance for Arne Slot to showcase a trait which helped him get the job.
Liverpool manager Arne Slot should take the opportunity to rest and rotate key players during Wednesday’s Champions League match against Bologna, Reds expert David Lynch has told Sports Mole.
The six-time winners of the competition host the Serie A side at Anfield in their second match of this season’s new-look format, having dispatched of another Italian side – AC Milan – in their opener last month.
Premier League leaders Liverpool will go into Wednesday’s contest as heavy favourites against a Bologna team that have only won once all season and sit 13th in the Serie A table with seven points from their opening six games.
The midweek match will be Liverpool’s sixth in a run of seven games in the space of 21 days, and Lynch believes that Slot needs to take such opportunities to rotate.
“Starting out with that tough trip to Milan – their form wasn’t fantastic going into it – but it looked like a tough one on paper. Liverpool went there, were very impressive, and you think you’re coming into this one, a home one, you really would back Liverpool as strong favorites based on the two sides’ form,” he told Sports Mole.
“There’s scope there on that basis for the manager to make a few changes. I mean, I don’t think it’s going to be League Cup style, nine changes, but you’ve got to make the most of these opportunities to rotate.
“Yes, it’s a Champions League game, but I just think there’s a gap between these two sides that you just have to make the most of it and rotate where you can. I think it’s an opportunity for him to make maybe three or four changes and still be able to come out with a win.
“That’s how I would like to see Arne Slot approach this one. And I think even with three or four changes, you think of some of the quality that they can bring in, you’d still have them as massive favorites.”
Slot’s record of player availability helped him land Liverpool job
Liverpool have suffered two injury-plagued seasons in a row, topping the Premier League injury table in 2022-23 before once again being one of the hardest-hit teams in the division last term.
In stark contrast, Slot’s Feyenoord side saw player availability levels of more than 90% across his three seasons in charge of the Rotterdam outfit – a record that has been in part attributed to Slot heeding the advice of medical and performance specialists, including Ruben Peeters, who followed the Dutchman to Anfield from Feyenoord.
Those player availability levels were a factor considered by the Liverpool hierarchy during their searches for a replacement to Jurgen Klopp, and Wednesday appears to be an opportunity for Slot to rotate some of the players with the most minutes in their legs so far this season.
“One of the big things for Liverpool this season is to not get as many injuries as last season. In fact, one of the appealing factors of this manager to the hierarchy is that he, between him and [lead physical performance coach] Ruben Peeters, had a really good record of player availability,” Lynch told Sports Mole.
“Now part of that was down to the way they condition the players, the way they substitute them off in certain games, he didn’t necessarily have to rotate as much as you maybe expect to keep players fit. But he hasn’t got that choice at Liverpool – the games are too intense. It’s Champions League, Premier League, that intensity. You’ve got the League Cup thrown in there as well.
“I think he’s going to have to rotate more than he was used to at Feyenoord to keep that player availability record as strong as it was over there. So you’ve got to take these opportunities in the game at home against a Bologna side that isn’t absolutely flying.”
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Will Mo Salah start against Bologna?
Mohamed Salah has played more minutes than any other Liverpool player this season, clear of Alexis Mac Allister, Virgil van Dijk and Ryan Gravenberch.
However, the Egyptian forward has a brilliant record in past meetings with Bologna and has started the 2024-25 campaign in flying form, scoring five goals and creating four more in eight games across all competitions.
Slot confirmed in his pre-match press conference that Federico Chiesa is likely to miss Wednesday’s match through injury too, so Lynch is predicting that Salah starts again, but that there will be changes elsewhere in the forward line.
“I think maybe we will keep Salah in, maybe just as a nod to the fact that it is the Champions League, but if he’s got any opportunity to bring him off around 60 minutes, I think he absolutely grabs it,” he added.
“It’s kind of a no brainer on that left-hand side. You look at the form that [Cody] Gakpo’s in – it’s almost a like for like replacement in terms of how the good the form that both of those players are in, him and [Luis] Diaz. So that’s maybe an easy pick.
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“[Darwin] Nunez, we don’t quite know where he’s going to be up to after this illness in terms of whether he would be ready for a start, but if he can make the bench again, it just gives you that option on 60. There’s certain positions which are very easy to rotate, like bringing in a [Jarell] Quansah is straightforward. Bringing in a Gakpo I think is kind of similar.
“But anyone you’re not able to rotate, if you can get to 60 and you can get a decent lead there, which Liverpool should be capable of at Anfield against this Bologna side, it gives you the opportunity to drag players off immediately and get them ready for the weekend.
“That is another important factor, as much as the selection itself, is what he can do with his subs in there. There are so many players waiting in the wings who are really high quality players sat on the bench. He’s going to have lots of opportunity to do that and really protect his players.”
Doubtful duo Darwin Nunez and Andy Robertson were both involved in training on Tuesday, while Diogo Jota is expected to be available despite missing sessions this week after suffering a knock in the win over Wolverhampton Wanderers at the weekend.
Lynch also analysed why Liverpool’s slow starts to matches under Slot have so far proved less costly than the same unwanted trait did during Klopp’s final season at the helm.
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