{"id":702399,"date":"2026-01-17T15:54:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T15:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/702399\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T15:54:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T15:54:18","slug":"arne-slots-liverpool-midfield-pecking-order-looks-to-have-finally-changed-after-burnley-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/702399\/","title":{"rendered":"Arne Slot’s Liverpool midfield pecking order looks to have finally changed after Burnley decision"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A notable exclusion from Liverpool\u2019s starting XI to face Burnley might give us a clue as to Arne Slot\u2019s current midfield thoughts. <\/strong><\/p>\n

On an unbeaten run of eleven games, Liverpool faced Burnley as strong favourites<\/a>, but there is always a risk of an upset. <\/p>\n

As such, we expected Slot<\/a> to field a full-strength team, despite Marseille next on the schedule. <\/p>\n

\"mailJoin our newsletter for news & smart analysis. <\/p>\n

How will Liverpool turn things around if they fail to get Champions League football in 25\/26? <\/p>\n

Arne Slot expressed concern about missing out on top-tier European football in his pre-Burnley press conference<\/p>\n

\"LiverpoolCredit: Shaun Brooks \u2013 CameraSport\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc47 Join the debate; share your insight. Use the comment button on the bottom left to have your say <\/p>\n

There was a surprise in his midfield selection, though, and it hints at one of last season\u2019s most important players being further down the pecking order than previously believed. <\/p>\n

Alexis Mac Allister\u2019s omission from Liverpool XI is telling <\/p>\n

This is exactly the game of football to which Alexis Mac Allister<\/a> is suited. <\/p>\n

Tight spaces, a low block, a home crowd to galvanise with crunching tackles. One that the Argentine would have enjoyed. <\/p>\n

But he was left on the bench, with Curtis Jones and Ryan Gravenberch<\/a> given the nod in the deeper midfield roles. <\/p>\n

Jones receives plenty of criticism from Liverpool fans<\/a> for occasionally frustrating performances, but his growing role for Slot has coincided with a turnaround in form. Gravenberch could have been swapped out for Mac Allister, but no. <\/p>\n

200 appearances in red for Curtis Jones \ud83d\ude0d What do you think the future holds for the Scouser? <\/p>\n

\"CurtisWill he fulfil his talent at Liverpool? <\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc47 Join the debate; share your insight. Use the comment button on the bottom left to have your say <\/p>\n

It may well be a one-game instance, but it does more feel like a decision has been made behind the scenes. With Jones<\/a> coming into the picture more and more, someone had to make way. <\/p>\n

It looks like that\u2019s going to be Mac Allister, which is a shame because it looked as though he was turning a pretty woeful start to the season around. <\/p>\n

Dominik Szoboszlai and Florian Wirtz are shoo-ins<\/p>\n

Whatever the outcome of the scrap between those three, Florian Wirtz and Dominik Szoboszlai look like the future<\/a> of this side. <\/p>\n

They prefer operating further forward, but that\u2019s just something Slot will have to figure out. <\/p>\n

\"FlorianPhoto by Christian Kaspar-Bartke\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Recent weeks have shown that those two need to be on the team sheet. <\/p>\n

It will certainly be interesting to see what happens behind them. <\/p>\n

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Receive a digest of our best Liverpool content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A notable exclusion from Liverpool\u2019s starting XI to face Burnley might give us a clue as to Arne…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":702400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8815],"tags":[1647,748,8929,393,4884,179,12406,16,15],"class_list":["post-702399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-liverpool","tag-alexis-mac-allister","tag-britain","tag-curtis-jones","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-liverpool","tag-ryan-gravenberch","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115911253507031085","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}