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Will Still has hinted he will make several changes to his Southampton line-up for the visit to Anfield on Tuesday.
The 32-year-old faces his biggest challenge yet as Saints boss when he travels to Liverpool for the Carabao Cup third-round tie. Still’s start to life at St. Mary’s hasn’t quite gone to plan, with the south-coast club failing to win any of its last five league matches.
He has experienced more success in the Carabao Cup, though, beating Northampton Town and Norwich City to set up the tie against Liverpool. Southampton has rotated heavily in those matches and Still said ahead of the trip to Merseyside that he is likely to do the same again.
“I think we’ve got a massive squad,” explained the former Lens head coach. “Some players need to play, some players need an opportunity, so that’s what’s going to happen, but we’re never going to completely disregard it and put a load of Under-21s in.
“We’ve got a lot of good players, and some good players that deserve this opportunity, but also some players that have done really well considering the lesser results of the last few weeks, so it’s about getting the right mix between those players that need to play and the ones that deserve to play as well.
“It will present a few opportunities for other players, so just go for it – don’t overthink it, don’t overanalyse it, stand up and be counted for,” he added.
“Whatever team will start tomorrow will be the team we think is the best team to play that game at this moment in time, and have a right go.”
On the challenge of facing Liverpool, Still added: “They’re the best team in England, probably one of the best teams in Europe, and we have to go there with the belief that we can play football and that we’re good at doing certain things in our register.
“We just have to show a bit of personality, a bit of bravery to stand back up, to get back up.
“I just want us to have a go, to be brave and show a bit of what we’re about, not just go there and fold over and crumple. We need to be strong, we need to be good at what we do. Just go there and have a go.”
Meanwhile, Arne Slot has confirmed he will rest and rotate his squad in the midst of a busy run of fixtures for the Premier League champions.
“Yes, there will be a completely changed line-up,” said the Dutchman. “Same as we did last season in the League Cup.
“So many games need to be played and our players are able to do so, but once in a while they need a bit of rest as well because we sometimes tend to forget because we are so focused on our games at Liverpool, but many of them have played twice for the national teams as well.
“So, they are able to do a lot but once in a while they need a little bit of rest – and I'm talking about two days of rest, which is still not a lot.”
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