Liverpool take squad decision that shows what will happen in transfer window

Arne Slot has been reliant on a core of players for Liverpool but that is going to change in the summer transfer window

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot(Image: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

Nearly there. And Liverpool’s domination of the Premier League this season can ultimately be put down to one factor: consistency.

While their main rivals have experienced peaks and troughs during the campaign, Arne Slot’s side have had to negotiate only the most minor of dips in opening up a 13-point lead at the summit.

And such relentlessly positive results – only two defeats in 32 games – speaks volumes for the regular levels Liverpool have been able to produce in the toughest and most demanding domestic league in the world.

Much has to do with the mentality of the players. This is a Liverpool team that simply doesn’t enjoy losing in the Premier League, having now been beaten only six times in their last 79 top-flight matches.

That Slot inherited an improving squad that had played together for a year under predecessor Jurgen Klopp also aided the continuity, not least given there was only one new arrival last summer in Federico Chiesa and those that departed had barely featured during the closing months of Klopp’s reign.

But where Slot has pointedly differed from the German is in his general reluctance to overly rotate. “My former teams we were able to actually play almost every game with the same players but it is a different league so I might have to adjust to that,” he said back in September, and the Reds head coach has travelled a steep learning curve in that regard at times this season given the intensity of the English game.

However, it remains one of the most curious aspects of Liverpool’s campaign that, along with Chiesa, neither Wataru Endo nor Harvey Elliott have started a league game under Slot. Last season they totalled 31 between them.

Youngsters Tyler Morton, James McConnell, Trey Nyoni and Rio Ngumoha have all started in the cup competitions but haven’t kicked a ball in the Premier League this term, while goalkeeper Vitezslav Jaros has just a handful of minutes and striker Jayden Danns likewise.

That Liverpool have been reliant on a small core of players because even more clear when drilling deeper into the appearance figures. Conor Bradley’s start against West Ham United at the weekend was only his third in the Premier League this season while for Kostas Tsimikas it was a sixth. Jarell Quansah has had one since the opening round of fixtures, Joe Gomez six and Darwin Nunez has managed only eight.

Remarkably, 76% of all of Liverpool’s starting roles in the Premier League this season have been spread across just 10 players.

With six games remaining, the Reds have had 20 different starters in the top-flight this season. Only once before have they used fewer in the Premier League era, when 19 players had a start in the 1995/96 campaign. Back then, of course, squads were smaller given there were only three players allowed on the bench rather than the current nine. The most, incidentally, is 27 starters, which has happened on three occasions.

While Liverpool haven’t had quite the injury concerns of the likes of Tottenham and Manchester City, it would be wrong to suggest it has been straightforward given they were without their goalkeeper for several months, their first-choice striker for a similar length of time, a key centre-back for six weeks and a succession of right-backs that left them without any for the League Cup final. But when the squad has been needed, it has by and large stepped up.

Of course, should Liverpool wrap up the title swiftly, there could be scope in the remaining weeks for the likes of Elliott, Chiesa and Endo to be handed a start.

And with Slot set for a summer of recruiting players to fit his own vision, he is unlikely to be so heavily reliant on such a relatively small group of players once again. For many reasons, this continues to be a unique season for Liverpool.