Slot's Selection Gambit Pays Off as Liverpool Scrapes Past Stubborn Barnsley

Arne Slot's team selection raised a few eyebrows before kick-off, but the performance against Barnsley provided the clearest possible justification for keeping his powder dry in the FA Cup.

Liverpool's 4-1 victory over the 17th-placed League One side flatters the scoreline considerably. Despite fielding a premium starting eleven featuring Gakpo, Curtis Jones, Szoboszlai, Frimpong and Mac Allister, with Gravenberch, Konate, Wirtz and Ekitike available from the bench, the Reds laboured through large periods of a match they ought to have controlled.

The visitors nearly delivered the ultimate upset narrative. Barnsley struck the post in the opening 30 seconds and looked genuinely threatening down the left flank, with Reyes Cleary posing problems for Van Dijk when the score remained level. Had Conor Hourihane's men broken the deadlock early on, it would have represented the fastest "too early" goal for an underdog against top-flight opposition in this season's competition—a distinction Portsmouth could claim after their Sunday effort against Arsenal.

Szoboszlai's opening strike from range was a beauty, admittedly, and Frimpong's follow-up doubled the advantage with a thunderous finish. Suddenly, Liverpool appeared primed to add several more and cruise through. Instead, they switched off spectacularly. A calamitous Szoboszlai backheel six yards from goal—more reckless than anything else—handed former academy product Adam Phillips a gift, and the Barnsley man fired in front of the Kop to revive the tie at 2-1.

The Tykes remained genuinely dangerous throughout. A penalty appeal went their way at 2-1, and only a £169million partnership between Wirtz and Ekitike finally settled matters with six minutes remaining, the pair combining again as Barnsley threw everything forward in desperation.

Three-goal margins can mask concerning vulnerabilities, and this one certainly did. Had Slot indulged in the sort of wholesale changes that might have seemed tempting—bringing in Ramsay, Endo and Nyoni while resting Szoboszlai and others—the outcome could easily have been different. His restraint, limiting rotation to Chiesa, Ngumoha and Gomez while retaining Mamardashvili and Robertson, reflected a calculated risk assessment.

Context matters here. Crystal Palace's defence of the trophy crumbled against non-league Macclesfield, so Slot wasn't about to compound such drama with careless team selection. His reluctance to trust the backup options speaks volumes about his assessment of squad depth. Konate's earlier performances going unpunished suggested the manager harbours genuine doubts about those further down the pecking order.

The uncomfortable truth is that Liverpool looked fragile against inferior opposition once intensity dipped. The performance didn't indict the starters nor vindicate the alternatives. It simply exposed a team that remains vulnerable to lapses in concentration when facing weaker sides. For all Slot's careful planning, that's a problem money alone won't solve.