Arne Slot's Liverpool midfield pecking order looks to have finally changed after Burnley decision

A notable exclusion from Liverpool’s starting XI to face Burnley might give us a clue as to Arne Slot’s current midfield thoughts.

On an unbeaten run of eleven games, Liverpool faced Burnley as strong favourites, but there is always a risk of an upset.

As such, we expected Slot to field a full-strength team, despite Marseille next on the schedule.

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There was a surprise in his midfield selection, though, and it hints at one of last season’s most important players being further down the pecking order than previously believed.

Alexis Mac Allister’s omission from Liverpool XI is telling

This is exactly the game of football to which Alexis Mac Allister is suited.

Tight spaces, a low block, a home crowd to galvanise with crunching tackles. One that the Argentine would have enjoyed.

But he was left on the bench, with Curtis Jones and Ryan Gravenberch given the nod in the deeper midfield roles.

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Jones receives plenty of criticism from Liverpool fans 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.

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

It looks like that’s 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.

Dominik Szoboszlai and Florian Wirtz are shoo-ins

Whatever the outcome of the scrap between those three, Florian Wirtz and Dominik Szoboszlai look like the future of this side.

They prefer operating further forward, but that’s just something Slot will have to figure out.

Recent weeks have shown that those two need to be on the team sheet.

It will certainly be interesting to see what happens behind them.

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