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Liverpool boss Arne Slot has explained why he didn't start or bring on Joe Gomez against Nottingham Forest, despite the Reds' shortage of right-back options.
Gomez was named among the substitutes at Anfield but wasn't called upon at all. With Ibrahima Konate struggling for form, there was a case for playing him alongside Virgil van Dijk. He was also an option to play on the right of the defense, where Dominik Szoboszlai was preferred.
"We had to start the game with a midfielder at right full-back because both of our full-backs are injured," Slot explained in his post-match press conference at Anfield.
"Joe Gomez is also a player who can play there but hasn't trained the whole week. I don't think he was fully ready to start this game."
Even when Slot took Konate off, he chose to move Ryan Gravenberch to center-back and throw on an extra attacker in the form of Hugo Ekitike, putting the Frenchman alongside Alexander Isak.
"When you're 2-0 down, it's not, in my opinion, really necessary to bring in a defender," Slot reasoned. "Normally, you prefer, at least that's what I also do, you prefer to bring in players that can score a goal.
"After I took Ibou [Konate] off, indeed we played with two midfielders in our last line. That's true, but we also needed goals.
"That's why I brought Hugo Ekitike in for Ibou to bring a player in who can score a goal and just before we conceded the 3-0, I went to a 3-3-4 because I didn't feel after my first substitution we were able to create a lot.
"I know, we know, you probably know even better than me, but I have been here for one-and-a-half years now, and if you score a goal in this stadium, something can happen.
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"You need a goal and need something to happen, and then after my first substitution with Hugo, I don't think we created a lot.
"I thought with us being 2-0 down, let's take an extra risk. But that didn't work out really well because two seconds later we were 3-0 down."
Liverpool faces PSV next, in the Champions League. It then has Premier League games with West Ham, Sunderland and Leeds United.
"It is my responsibility," Slot added. "If we win or lose, it is my responsibility. But what I also see is the team and, by the way, our fans as well stay until the end, support the team until the end and the players keep on trying until the end."
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