Liverpool legend urges Andoni Iraola to learn from Arne Slot mistake for Carabao Cup clash

Andoni Iraola has been advised to learn from one mistake that Arne Slot made at Liverpool this time last year.

The Reds take on Chelsea in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup at Anfield on Wednesday night, the same stage of the competition at which they were dumped out by Crystal Palace 12 months ago in a 3-0 humbling by the Eagles.

The Dutchman’s decision to change almost his entire XI and include eight teenagers (three of whom started) backfired as a youthful LFC side were schooled by the south Londoners, with the result coming amid a miserable run of nine defeats in 12 games across all competitions.

Aldridge: Iraola must go strong against Chelsea

Iraola’s Liverpool are in much better form now, having won four matches in a row, but John Aldridge doesn’t want to see the head coach aping Slot by making wholesale changes to his starting line-up and leaving out numerous first-team regulars.

The former Reds striker wrote in his column for the Liverpool Echo: ‘Liverpool can’t make the same mistake as they did last year against Crystal Palace in the League Cup. Arne Slot threw the kids and fringe players in and we got mauled.

‘We can’t do that with Chelsea because they’re out of Europe. They need the cup, they need it, and they will come to Anfield and play their strongest side.

‘We’ve got to match them and it’s going to be tough. I’ll tell you what, it’s tough for the manager because we’ve got injuries and you want to keep the players fresh for the league and for Europe.’

Aldridge concluded: ‘I don’t envy the manager, but we do want a cup run and you win this game and you’re in the quarter-finals, so it’s a tough one. It really is a tough one.’

Iraola must find the right balance with his starting XI

Iraola has a delicate balance to strike with his team selection on Wednesday night. While squad rotation will be necessary amid a hectic fixture period, it’s also important that he picks a line-up which’d be strong enough to overcome a Chelsea side who’d love to get one over on the Reds.

We’re sure that there’ll be a few changes all the same, one of which will likely involve Giorgi Mamardashvili getting a runout in place of Alisson Becker, who’s set to be handed a well-earned breather.

Joe Gomez and Kostas Tsimikas will probably come into the back four, but the absence of several defenders through injury could force the head coach to start one or more of Jeremy Jacquet, Virgil van Dijk or Ronald Araujo.

Trey Nyoni and James McConnell could be paired together in midfield, with one of Alexis Mac Allister or Ryan Gravenberch potentially keeping their place in order to ensure the right blend of youth and experience.

We expect Rio Ngumoha and Lewis Koumas to start in attack, and it’ll be interesting to see if Federico Chiesa is handed a first start under Iraola, with the Italian having played just two minutes so far this season.

There should be scope for the head coach to make several changes from the weekend win over Brighton and still field a starting XI capable of beating Chelsea, who’ll be out for revenge after losing the final of this competition to a youthful Liverpool side in 2024.