Arne Slot explains surprise Mohamed Salah and Alexander Isak Liverpool decision vs Galatasaray

Arne Slot has explained his decision to bench Mohamed Salah and Alexander Isak for Liverpool's Champions League trip to Galatasaray. The Dutchman made four to his side for the trip to Turkey following on from Saturday's defeat to Crystal Palace.

Salah dropped to the bench alongside Isak, Alexis Mac Allister and Conor Bradley as Jeremie Frimpong, Hugo Ekitike, Curtis Jones and Cody Gakpo came into his side.

Speaking ahead of kick-off, Slot confirmed that it would be Frimpong who would start on the right-wing in place of Salah, with Dominik Szoboszlai instead utilised at right-back.

READ MORE: Liverpool face new Marc Guehi transfer competition as Real Madrid and Barcelona eye deal

READ MORE: Jamie Carragher reveals the Liverpool star who can unlock Florian Wirtz's true ability

"Jeremie is not playing as a right full-back, he is playing on the right-wing," he said on Amazon Prime. "We have many games to play. In a few days there is another big game coming up.

"We have to utilise our squad. Utilising doesn’t always mean from the start. Players can come in as well. Many of our games, players have impacted the game coming off from the bench.

"They were talking about the last time, Mo scored three coming off the bench against Rangers. And I know who the manager of Rangers was back then! That is my current assistant, Gio (Van Bronckhorst). But that is not the reason (why Salah is on the bench).

"It is example maybe of a luxury, of having other options."

Meanwhile, Slot also confirmed that Liverpool are continuing to manage both Isak and Mac Allister carefully following disjointed pre-seasons after naming both players on the bench in Istanbul.

"It takes a bit of time (for Isak)," he said. "He plays an hour, half an hour. Everyone who plays football knows the more you play together, the better it goes.

"Normally very good players need less time to adapt. If you look at our full-back position, both of them are new.

"Upfront we go in and out with Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike. And in the midfield we’ve made some changes because Mac Allister had a very poor pre-season. Poor in terms of missing out on a lot of training time.

"If you then play every three days, you can’t expect from Alexander or Mac Allister to be available for 90 minutes every three days.

"Alexander Isak didn't train in pre-season. Mac Allister missed a lot of pre-season. Conor Bradley missed a lot of pre-season. Milos Kerkez is not used, at Bournemouth, to playing three times a week.

"These are all extra ingredients why we sometimes have to rotate a bit. And sometimes it's also because we think we have players who can play games like this."

Join our new WhatsApp community! Click this link to receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.