Lineker likens Slot conundrum at Liverpool to Real Madrid dilemma from last season
Gary Lineker has likened the situation at Liverpool involving their forwards to the conundrum facing Real Madrid last season over Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior.
The Reds made eight new signings in the summer transfer window after Arne Slot was fully backed following his Premier League title victory during his first season at Anfield.
As well as two back-up goalkeepers, Liverpool invested large sums of money in Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez and Giovanni Leoni.
Ekitike signed from Eintracht Frankfurt at a time when the Isak deal to Anfield looked unlikely with Liverpool signing the Sweden international on deadline day for £125m.
That has created a wonderful headache for Slot with the Liverpool boss having two of the best strikers in the Premier League to call on – but it will be a challenge to keep them both happy.
Some reckon Slot will start one of them off the left with the other playing through the middle and Lineker insists Liverpool could have a Real Madrid-style conundrum brewing.
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On The Rest Is Football, Lineker said: “I wonder what Isak’s thinking, sitting on the bench. He’ll want to play that role. Ekitike could play on the left, and Isak, we know, can play on the left, and I think they might do that.
“But then, they might have that slight situation of Real Madrid, where they had Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe both wanting to play on the left, but in the end Mbappe was the one who converted to a nine. I’m not saying they’re that level, but they could be.”
Fellow pundit Alan Shearer added: “You’ve got Wirtz in there as well. It was interesting. I think it was the right choice that he [Slot] went back to his tried and tested three in the Merseyside Derby, because you know what it’s like.
“It was always going to be 100 miles per hour. He went back to what worked so well for them with that three in midfield, and left Wirtz out. The talent they’ve got in forward positions and midfield is just incredible at Liverpool.”
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Isak was left out of the starting XI for Ekitike in the Merseyside Derby as the Swede attempts to get up to full fitness and Slot hinted that he would play in their Carabao Cup clash against Southampton on Tuesday night.
Speaking ahead of the match against the Saints, Slot said: “There are the players that need a game and we’re happy that we have one. If we wouldn’t have had one, we probably would have arranged a friendly in this week for these players because they need to play games as well to keep them ready whenever we need them.
“We’ve used quite a lot in the last three games because we thought we needed to keep this energy throughout all the three games – but not all of them. And the few we haven’t used, it’s definitely the perfect moment for them to get playing time.”
