Arne Slot confirms five Liverpool stars to sit out Carabao Cup tie

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The Carabao Cup returns to Anfield on Tuesday night, a third-round assignment against Southampton that arrives amid a crowded early-season schedule.

The competition’s value for Liverpool is twofold: it offers a direct path to Wembley and it provides meaningful minutes for the wider squad at a time when European commitments and the Premier League demand constant output.

Coming off a 2-1 Merseyside derby win, the champions have rhythm and depth, and this is precisely the sort of fixture where that depth is tested.

Expect a reshaped XI, opportunities for those pushing to start at the weekend, and a strong push to keep momentum rolling into late September.

After the derby, Arne Slot was clear that rotation will define the midweek tie and set out the reasoning.

“It’s the reason why teams like us and the ones in Europe need a squad like this, you play so many games,” he said via Liverpool Echo.

“It’s not an excuse, we accept it.”

“We have had some issues with Alexander Isak not training for four months, Mac Allister missing out a lot, I can go on and on.”

He then named the five players who will be protected after a heavy run.

“The good thing is I have the option to rotate throughout the week, and the ones that played three times 90 minutes are Virgil (van Dijk), Ibou (Ibrahima Konate), Mo (Mohamed Salah), Ryan and Dom (Dominik Szoboszlai), the ones that are used to this intensity at this level, and again they showed up really good.”

I can tell you now you won’t be seeing them on Tuesday.”

That decision frames the selection picture: leaders rested, fringe and emerging options tasked with carrying Liverpool through.

Slot also dissected the derby performance with an eye on standards.

“We managed the game really well but we didn’t manage some moments really well.

I said this before the game.”

“There’s a lot to like but we have to understand that a moment can change momentum.”

“This is what happened against Bournemouth, Newcastle and Atletico.”

“We have to understand that a moment can change a game no matter how well you are playing, always fight for those moments.”

“This is where we can improve.

But we managed the game in general really well, I don’t think they had a chance after 2-1.

But it always feels a bit difficult if you’re only 2-1 up.”

He praised the group’s adaptability and explained the compressed turnaround.

“These are very good players but we have played in different set-ups, really good moments for large parts of the game.

It’s the only thing we did in two days.”

“It’s not an excuse.”

“I can never come up with something new so the other teams always know what we’re going to do as we don’t have much training time.”

“You don’t have to feel sorry for me as I have so many great players.”

Read more: Key players left out of Liverpool U21s game hints at Tuesday selection

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