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Arne Slot believes Liverpool’s 3-2 Carabao Cup win at Brighton proves his team can function effectively without a recognised striker amid the club’s current injury issues.
With Diogo Jota and Federico Chiesa sidelined, midfielders Curtis Jones and Dominik Szoboszlai were tasked with supplementing the attacking threat of wide pair Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz at the Amex Stadium as Darwin Nunez was given a rest by beginning on the bench.
Gakpo set the holders on course for a quarter-final trip to Southampton with a superb second-half double before Diaz claimed what proved to be the winner, in between late goals from Seagulls pair Simon Adingra and Tariq Lamptey.
Dutchman Slot, who made eight changes for the fourth-round tie in Sussex, was satisfied with the experiment, but would prefer to play with a central striker as he turns his attention back to the Premier League.
“If you play [Jones and Szoboszlai] without a No. 9, you are always a bit worried if you have enough runs in behind the last line because these two like also to play into the midfield and make combinations over there, to make triangles over there,” said Slot, whose team host Brighton in the top flight on Saturday.
“But I think what they did really well was combining, trying to become an extra midfielder, 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 with 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.”
Slot was pleased with the impact of his squad players on the south coast and feels he has positive selection headaches moving forward.
Back-up goalkeeper Vitezslav Jaros marked his full Liverpool debut with a couple of crucial saves.
The 23-year-old Czech, who has been loaned to Notts County, Stockport and Austrian club Sturm Graz in recent seasons, denied Lamptey a first-half opener before superbly tipping an Adingra header on to a post at 1-0.
“Everybody could see how important his saves were,” said Slot, whose first-choice keeper Alisson Becker is unavailable due to a hamstring issue.
“The first big chance of the game was for them where he saved the one-versus-one and in the second half of course we all remember one or two saves as well.
“But he also added to that how comfortable he was with the ball at his feet: making the right choices on when to go short and when to clip the ball towards the striker, and it helped for him the quality Jarell Quansah and Joe Gomez brought in build-up.
“I liked that triangle today a lot in ball possession.”
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