Arne Slot has explained why he didn’t play a striker vs. Brighton – “I liked what I saw”

Arne Slot made the surprise decision not to field a striker in Liverpool’s Carabao Cup trip to Brighton, explaining why he chose not to after the 3-2 win.

With Diogo Jota and Federico Chiesa out injured, Slot admitted before the Reds’ journey to the south coast that he was lacking his “most logical No. 9s.”

And during a rigorous schedule for Darwin Nunez as the only fit out-and-out striker, the head coach opted to leave the Uruguayan out of his side against Brighton

Nunez was named on the bench along with 18-year-old academy forward Ranel Young, with Slot using an unorthodox system.

With goalscorers Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz out wide as usual, the onus fell on Dominik Szoboszlai and Curtis Jones as two false nines to provide the presence in central areas.

It is questionable whether it worked – particularly with Szoboszlai fluffing his lines in front of goal – but Slot “liked what he saw.”

“If you play those two without a No. 9, you’re always a bit worried if you have enough runs in behind the last line,” he told reporters after the game.

“Because these two like also to play into the midfield and to make combinations over there, triangles over there.

“But I think what they did really well was combining trying to become an extra player in the midfield but don’t forget to make the deep runs as well.

“It helped that Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo were a constant threat in behind also.

“So in general, I liked what I saw.

“I prefer to play with a No. 9, but if they are not available – and of course, we had Darwin available, but I think it was not good for him to start today after playing three Games and the upcoming schedule – then this was the result of what we tried to come up with.

“And the players did really well, in my opinion.”

In his interview with LFCTV he elaborated: “We decided with two No. 10s, or two players who played a bit more as a false nine, to overload the midfield and still have two wingers that can threaten them with deep runs and one-vs-one actions.

“If you looked at the way we played, and maybe for large parts controlled the game, that was well done by the players.

“It’s difficult for us to work on things a lot. Pre-season is for this in Football, but we only had 12 days to prepare with all the players, because they were coming back from the tournaments.

“But it’s not like we never play it. If Darwin plays, if Diogo plays, sometimes we drop them into midfield as well.

“So it’s not like it changed so much, but it did change a bit and we tried to explain it in the best possible way – and I think they did a good job today to play in this style.”

With Liverpool hosting Brighton next in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon, it is unlikely Slot will stick with the same setup.

Instead, Nunez will almost certainly come back into the side at Anfield, with Szoboszlai and Jones left to tussle for one spot in the midfield alongside Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister.