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Arne Slot has explained that a concern about Liverpool's mounting number of injuries was the reason behind the number of changes he made for Wednesday's Carabao Cup tie against Crystal Palace.
The Liverpool head coach made 10 from the weekend defeat to Crystal Palace and named a staring line-up that contained two debutants in Freddie Woodman and Kieran Morrison. Slot also selected a bench made up entirely of youth-team players.
But giving youngsters an opportunity to shine was at the forefront of Slot's mind, despite the recent downturn in form.
"I think people who know this club and have followed this club, that in this competition we use it for younger players," the Dutchman told Sky Sports ahead of the game.
"We want to help create a pathway in front of 60,000 people, in front of our own fans. That is one of the reasons, the other reason is because we only have four or five injuries, but if I have to play again the same players, I think there are multiple reasons why we have lost so many games, and with all the reasons there are no excuses, but it hasn’t been helpful that almost all the time we only had two days in between the games after we had to play away from home.
"If we keep playing with the same players, like for example, I tried with Alexander Isak, then with players that missed out on pre-season, that is a big risk to pick up another injury. And we only have, at this moment in time, 15, 16 senior players available."
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