Arne Slot responds to Keane criticism of Alexander-Arnold as 12.30 kick-off chill lasts two weeks

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has re-evaluated his opinion on Saturday lunchtime kick-offs in the wake of Alisson Becker’s injury and responded to Roy Keane’s criticism of Trent Alexander-Arnold.

The Brazil goalkeeper is set for several weeks out after sustaining a hamstring injury in the 12.30pm start at Crystal Palace immediately before the international break, a game which came less than 63 hours after their victory over Bologna.

Prior to the trip to Selhurst Park Slot had said: “If 12.30 was a difficult time to perform, then I’m a really stupid manager because we train every day at 12 o’clock.”

However, in the light of Alisson’s injury the Dutchman has modified his stance.

“We’ve tried to be really careful with him but maybe it’s a good moment for me to explain one more time because there was a bit of rumour about me saying before the game that I don’t mind the 12.30 kick-off – and that is still what I think because we train at the same time,” he said.

“But what might be something to think about for the English FA (Premier League) is if you play Wednesday evening in the Champions League then to play on Saturday at 12.30 might be a disadvantage when it comes to injuries.

“The time at 12.30 is no problem at all but if you play so shortly after playing on a Wednesday evening, fortunately it was a home game, that might be something we should take into consideration.

“Although it’s so hard to change all of your 11 players because you play only two days later but you don’t expect a goalkeeper to pick up a muscle injury.

“What is very good in Holland is I’m 99.9 per cent sure that teams that play in the Champions League in the upcoming week don’t play on a Sunday.

“They get extra rest to be the best possible way prepared for the Champions League game. That is not something common in England.

“Here, we say: ‘You have so many good players, you get your results in Europe no matter what’.

“We decide the fixture list and don’t take the Champions League into account.”

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Slot has at least been boosted by the news all his players have returned fit from international duty for Sunday’s game at Chelsea, after which they have a Champions League tie away to RB Leipzig on Wednesday.

Trent Alexander-Arnold earned a third man-of-the-match award in four matches for interim England boss Lee Carsley for his performance against Finland, playing at left-back for the first time in his career.

But the right-back continues to receive criticism for his displays with ITV pundit Roy Keane saying before the game : “I still can’t believe how bad he is defensively. If you saw him the other night defending, it looked like he’d never played right-back before either.”

Slot sees no problem with the 26-year-old’s defensive capabilities and believes he has improved this season.

“He was, and is, still important in our attacking part of our game and I also like the way he has defended until now in the games he has played for us,” said the Dutchman.

“He made a step up in that perspective, but like for all the others, there is always room for improvement.

“He has done well for the national team as well as in four games he was three times man of the match. That’s quite a good score.

“England has a lot of very good players and Trent is one and if you then play the likes of Finland and Greece, with all the respect, then normally these quality players will play good games, although they did lose against Greece.

“If Trent plays against Finland, with the team-mates he has, you can play him in any position and he will always play a good game.

“Let’s hope he is going to be man of the match for us once in a while as well.”

Speculation is intensifying about a move to Real Madrid with Alexander-Arnold’s contract one of three – Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah the others – due to expire in the summer.

“There will always be talk about our players. It is a good thing you ask about it because it means they do really well,” said Slot, who was once again non-committal on any news.

“If they had played badly then you probably wouldn’t have asked. But I cannot tell you anything about that at this time.”