Arne Slot Delivers Verdict On Sipke Hulshoff And John Heitinga Ahead Of Leading Liverpool Against Southampton
Liverpool's assistant pair Sipke Hulshoff and former Everton defender John Heitinga will be in the dugout for the Carabao Cup quarterfinal clash against Southampton on Wednesday night due to Arne Slot's suspension.
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The Reds head coach was booked for the third time this season during the 2-2 draw with Fulham in the Premier League at Anfield over the weekend.
Southampton, who parted ways with manager Russell Martin following a disappointing 5-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur will be motivated to put an end to Liverpool's Carabao Cup campaign.
Arne Slot is expected to name a much-changed Liverpool side due to injuries mounting up. Andy Robertson will miss the game due to suspension following his sending-off against Fulham, while Conor Bradley and Ibrahima Konate remain unavailable due to injury.
Slot will not lead his side first time this season due to the suspension with the responsibility falling on first assistant coach Hulshoff and assistant Heitinga at St Mary's. Speaking at his pre-match press conference, the Dutchman lauded the importance of his backroom staff and believes they are capable of leading the team in his absence.
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"Sipke I worked with for a long time so we knew each other in and out, especially football-wise," Slot said. "It's one of the reasons we work together because we have so much in common if it's about playing style, game model or the changes we make during the game.
"John Heitinga is here with me for the first half of the season and I couldn't have wished for more. A very, if I say talented I don't rate him high enough because he's more than that.
"He's been a head coach before, still young but grew into our staff from the start in a good manner and has the same idea about football - that's why I chose him. The way he is with the boys, same with Sipke, we almost do things together.
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"They get a lot of time to work the players individual way but lead parts of sessions, they have the same idea as I do about football. I will be involved tomorrow but if I wouldn't be, it wouldn't be a problem at all, the players won't know anything different.
"We talk about the technical staff but we can see how much of a compliment our performance and medical staff should have if you look at how our players come back when you look at Allison and Diogo.
"But also when we have 10 but the opponent says it felt like we had 11 - that tells you about the technical staff but also the players - I give them enough compliments so let's stay with performance and medical staff in my backroom staff."
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LFC Transfer Room Football Correspondent. Covered the fortunes of Liverpool for the past three years. Follow Joseph on X (formerly Twitter) @joseph_agbobli