As Feyenoord fans will know, Arne Slot likes to keep his line-up consistent from game to game, making as few changes as possible. However, against Crystal Palace, Slot made a change and Liverpool still got the result.
Slot made four changes from the side that beat Bologna in the Champions League in midweek. Kostas Tsimikas, Curtis Jones, Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo all started, while Andrew Robertson, Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Dominik Szoboszlai were on the bench. This was Slot's most changes at Anfield apart from the Carabao Cup win over West Ham.
Slot's stubbornness in selecting the team came under fire in the 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest, their first game after the international break, where 10 of the starting 11 had just played two full international games.
Shortly after that defeat, Slot said: "If rotation is the reason why you don't win a game, it probably won't be the first game I lose in 2024 because at Feyenoord we don't rotate much."
Feyenoord used the second-fewest players in the Eredivisie (25) during the 2023-24 season. They were 11th out of 18 teams in the league for total starting line-up changes. But Slot has shaken things up at Selhurst Park, and the result has been a seamless transition from win to win.
Liverpool had 68.1% possession and scored the only goal of the game through Diogo Jota. However, the Reds were still far from the ruthless, dominating performance that Slot had demanded before the match. They should have been three or four goals up by half-time. Slot wanted his team to press from the start and maintain that pressure.
Chelsea, Arsenal, Brighton, Aston Villa, Southampton, Manchester City, Newcastle and Everton are Liverpool's next Premier League opponents, interspersed with Champions League games against RB Leipzig, Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid.
This will test Slot's squad depth. And he may need to get used to shuffling his lineup more.
The win over Palace also suggests Liverpool may be ready to play early, something Klopp has made clear he does not like. Liverpool have won both of their games on Saturday this season.
"It feels good because if we draw or lose I would have had a few days of not being happy. I'm happy with the start of the season.
"I hope to do more than win nine out of 10 games at this club. But it's a good start. Not only the result but also the performance today," Slot said after the win over Palace.
