Five Liverpool players ruled out of next match by Arne Slot - 'You won't be seeing them'

Arne Slot praised the depth of his Liverpool squad following their 2-1 triumph over Everton in Saturday's 247th Merseyside derby. The Reds boss also dropped a major hint about extensive rotation for Tuesday evening when his team kicks off their Carabao Cup journey at home against Southampton in the third round.

Slot made four changes to the XI that started Wednesday evening's thrilling 3-2 victory over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, with Conor Bradley, Milos Kerkez, Hugo Ekitike and Alexis Mac Allister all returning to the starting lineup. Ryan Gravenberch opened the scoring against David Moyes' side before the Netherlands midfielder turned provider for Ekitike's strike ahead of half-time.

Idrissa Gueye pulled one back after the interval, but the Premier League champions clung on to seal their fifth consecutive win of the new season.

"It's the reason why teams like us and the ones in Europe need a squad like this, you play so many games," Slot explained. "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.

"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. 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.

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"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.

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

The Liverpool head coach continued regarding the victory over Everton: "For me it was because they took the positions we wanted them to take and the other team did what we expected them to do.

"Usually we have to adjust at half-time as the other team comes up with something completely new against us. Which is normal as most teams we face have one week to prepare.

"The only thing we did between Atletico and now is playing six-v-two. 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."