Arne Slot Identifies Who Will Be Liverpool’s No.6 in Premier League Opener at Ipswich Town Next Weekend

Liverpool’s head coach, Arne Slot, was questioned about the No.6 role after his team’s friendly matches against Sevilla and Las Palmas on Sunday.

Slot has indicated that he has already made a decision about who will play the number six position for Liverpool’s Premier League opener at Ipswich Town next weekend. In the friendlies, Ryan Gravenberch and Wataru Endo were positioned as the deepest midfielders.

Other players like Curtis Jones, Alexis Mac Allister, and Dominik Szoboszlai have also been used in deeper roles over the summer. Liverpool’s ongoing effort to find a new player for the number six position is well known.

The club are currently in discussions with Real Sociedad about Martin Zubimendi, aiming to convince him to join Liverpool.

After Liverpool’s 0-0 draw with Las Palmas, Slot avoided directly addressing questions about the Euro 2024 champion. However, he did admitted that he has already identified the most suitable candidate from his current squad for the role.

“The ones I have tried there has sometimes to do with the players I have had available,” Slot said. “We have seen mostly Wata and Ryan there, and in the previous game even Dominik was a bit lower.

“I have quite a good idea which player suits there at this moment in my opinion best. But we are only one week working together with some players. Sometimes you feel this is the best number six but then the combination with the other two might not work out that well.

“It’s not to say the ones who played today will play next week or the weeks after. We are still in a situation where we are constantly evaluating which is the best line-up for us. Today you saw this, but that’s not to say it’s the same next week.”

Slot expressed satisfaction with the fitness levels of his international players, who only resumed pre-season training earlier this month after their participation in Euro 2024 and the Copa America.

In the match against Sevilla, Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, Mac Allister, and Luis Diaz all made their first pre-season appearances, with Joe Gomez coming off the bench.

Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo also had their first summer outings, starting in the game against Las Palmas. Andy Robertson returned from injury to join them.

Although none of the nine players completed the full 90 minutes, Slot noted that they were fit enough to play for longer and are prepared for next weekend’s match at Portman Road.

“Ideally we would have had them from the start, all of them. “He said. And then players like Virgil and others who went off could have played all the whole game.

“But I am pleased if you look at the situation, these players had to go on a holiday and a lot of them have come back really strong.

“And the ones I had from the start stayed fit all the time, so I am pleased with the fitness level the team has and we are without injuries at the moment and that is important in pre-season.”

Slot also responded to fans chanting his name during his Anfield debut against Sevilla. He emphasized that despite the impressive 4-1 victory over the La Liga team earlier in the day, there is still more to come from his side.

“What you hear is they sing my name but when I’m in the city, those people and the ones at the AXA have been really nice to me,” he said. “But it’s mostly like this if you become a head coach, they are always nice to you if you haven’t lost yet.

“Although we did lose one against Preston! But in general people have been nice to me, and have given me a warm welcome, not only me but the rest of my staff as well.”

He continued: “It is not only an important week but an important year to come, we have to improve day by day and I think we saw today in both games a lot of good things but I can make a big list of things we have to improve which is completely normal.

“Some of them with the certain new ideas we have, have only being doing it for a week so they have to adjust and they have to adjust with each other so it is normal that we are far from perfect. But even being far from perfect we can score four so that is good.”

In other Liverpool news, Sevilla’s “Kick Off Times” Dig at Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool Backfires in Arne Slot Masterclass