Arne Slot has explained his reasoning behind dropping Mohamed Salah and Alexander Isak to the bench for Liverpool's Champions League clash with Galatasaray. The Dutch boss made four changes to his starting XI for the journey to Turkey after Saturday's loss to Crystal Palace.
Salah was dropped to the substitutes' bench along with Isak, Alexis Mac Allister and Conor Bradley, with Jeremie Frimpong, Hugo Ekitike, Curtis Jones and Cody Gakpo all earning starts. Prior to kick-off, Slot revealed that Frimpong would operate on the right flank in Salah's absence, rather than line up in his natural full-back position, with Dominik Szoboszlai instead deployed at right-back.
Slot also confirmed that Liverpool are continuing to handle both Isak and Mac Allister with care following disrupted pre-seasons. 'It takes a bit of time (for Isak),' he said. 'Everyone who plays football knows the more you play together, the better it goes. Normally very good players need less time to adapt.'
Slot added: 'Mac Allister had a very poor pre-season. Poor in terms of missing out on a lot of training time. If you then play every three days, you can't expect from Alexander or Mac Allister to be available for 90 minutes every three days.'
