Slot shows he can rotate, but the real tests for Liverpool begin now

Liverpool will face tougher tasks than this trip to Selhurst Park over the next two months, but their 1-0 win over Crystal Palace proved that Arne Slot can change his team and still get an important victory by taking the game Jaros even finished in goal with debutant Vitezslav.

As Feyenoord fans know well, Slot prefers to stick with a fixed team from game to game and make as few changes as possible. But in that lunchtime kick-off, which came just two and a half days after the 2-0 Champions League win over Bologna, Slot tinkered and his Liverpool side still performed well.

Slot made four changes from the team that beat Bologna in midweek: Kostas Tsimikas, Curtis Jones, Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo all started, while Andrew Robertson, Luis Díaz, Darwin Núñez and Dominik Szoboszlai made way. Aside from the many changes he made in the Carabao Cup win over West Ham, these were the most changes he made from one game to the next.

His policy of sticking to a preferred formation drew criticism when his team appeared out of form in the 1-0 home defeat to Nottingham Forest three weeks ago. It was their first game after the international break, with ten of their eleven regular players having played both games for their national teams around the world. The week after that defeat, he referred to his remarkable record and said: “If rotation was the reason for not winning a game, then it probably wouldn’t be the first game I lost in 2024, because at Feyenoord we don’t have it changed a lot.”

Feyenoord used the second fewest players in the Eredivisie over the course of the 2023/24 season (25) and finished 11th among the 18 teams in the Dutch league that had overall changes to their starting squad. But Slot kept order at Selhurst Park and the result was a seamless transition from one win to the next, leaving Liverpool top of the league for at least a few hours and heading into the second international break in a strong position.

Liverpool controlled possession, had 68.1% possession and scored the only goal of the game after eight minutes through Diogo Jota. Palace looked vulnerable on the flanks and that proved to be their undoing as Gakpo found space behind Daniel Muñoz to support the Portugal international. But that still wasn’t enough for the ruthless, dominating performance that Slot demanded before the game, as they should have been leading by three or four players at half-time. Slot wants his team to be on the opponent’s heels from the start and maintain that pressure.

But this match may have come at a price. Alexis Mac Allister was substituted at halftime while Alisson Becker suffered another injury while making a free throw with 11 minutes left. Caoimhín Kelleher, who started in the 3-0 win over Bournemouth two weeks ago due to another injury to the Brazilian No. 1, is a capable substitute but was unavailable on Saturday due to illness. Alisson was replaced by the unknown Jaros, who made his Liverpool debut at the age of 23 after seven years at the club.

Jaros, who was previously on loan at St. Patrick’s Athletic, Notts County and Stockport County, played his last competitive game for SK Sturm Graz in May. In the second half of last season he played 14 games for the Austrian club and helped them win the league title. In the summer he played his first international match for the Czech Republic. He’s not just an inexperienced goalkeeper thrust into the spotlight. In the end he did what was required but given the tougher task at hand, Liverpool will hope to have Alisson or Kelleher available.

Now we will find out what slot consists of, after a promising start and a real understanding of their durability. Next up are Chelsea (H), Arsenal (A), Brighton & Hove Albion (H), Aston Villa (H), Southampton (A), Manchester City (H), Newcastle United (A) and Everton (A). Premier League, interrupted by Champions League dates at RB Leipzig and at home against Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid. It will test the strength of Slot’s roster, and he may have to get used to shuffling his team more often.

This game also showed that Liverpool might be ready to fall in love with the Saturday lunchtime kick-offs, which Klopp had made it clear he loathed. Liverpool took it two wins from two in the early Saturday game this season, with Slot saying before the game: “If 12.30 is a difficult time then I’m a really stupid coach because we train at 12 every day.” He Doesn’t seem like a manager who likes to rail against the system or scheduling.

For Palace, this was another game that passed them by. After finishing last season so brilliantly with six wins out of seven, they are winless after their first seven games. Manager Oliver Glasner had to build a new team here after losing Joachim Andersen, Michael Olise and Jordan Ayew in the summer and signing Trevoh Chalobah, Maxence Lacroix and Eddie Nketiah on transfer deadline day. They are still in the process of coming to terms, but it remains to be seen how much patience the board will have for the situation to change as the boos rang out during regular time.