'Unfortunately': Slot admits Curtis Jones was not the only Liverpool player he had to sub off early vs Lille

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Liverpool enjoyed another win in the Champions League on Tuesday as they brushed Lille aside at Anfield.

The French side came to Merseyside on a 21-game unbeaten run dating all the way back to September.

And although Bruno Genesio’s team made it difficult for Liverpool at times – and even managed to equalise with 10 men – the Reds were generally comfortable.

The only blot on the copybook of the evening was an injury to Curtis Jones. The midfielder had to go off at half-time after laying on a tremendous assist for Mohamed Salah.

It remains to be seen what the issue is with Jones, but with the Liverpool fixture list as busy as ever, Arne Slot will have been disappointed to see the Scouser forced off early.

And after Slot confirmed Jones picked up a knock, the Liverpool head coach also revealed that Conor Bradley had to be taken off early too.

Arne Slot reveals Conor Bradley issue

Bradley had a little bit of a difficult evening against Lille. Any joy that Les Dogues got throughout the game came down his side of the pitch.

That isn’t to say that the 21-year-old played badly, just that he struggled a little at times. Given that it was only Bradley’s second start since November, though, that was perhaps to be expected.

And speaking in his post-match press conference, Slot said that from the bench they could see that the right-back was starting to fade.

“The idea was to take Dom and Ryan off at half-time, but Curtis unfortunately couldn't continue, so that's why Dom stayed [on] a bit longer,” the Dutch coach said, explaining his substitutions on the night.

READ MORE: Arne Slot reveals what Liverpool did in Champions League clash vs Lille which he was not happy with

“Conor, the idea was to play 90 but in the end you could see that it got tougher and tougher and tougher for him in terms of load, so you don't want to take the risk of him getting injured in the last few minutes like it happened against [Real] Madrid.

“We wanted to win this game, but we were also aware of the fact that we had to manage the load,” Slot added. “Because we would have been really, really, really unlucky if we'd have lost twice and still not been in the top eight.”

Bradley set for Ipswich rest

It was indeed a surprise to see Trent Alexander-Arnold coming off the bench for the final four minutes or so against Lille.

Having chosen not to play the Scouser initially, it seems as though Slot was counting on not using him at all throughout the game.

Nevertheless, with Bradley clearly feeling the effects of a tough Champions League night, the Reds’ boss felt the need to introduce Trent.

Although it was always likely to happen anyway, Bradley’s withdrawal very probably means that he will play no part when Ipswich visit Anfield on Saturday.

After a good rest of his own, Alexander-Arnold will be back and ready to go at the weekend. As for Jones, we’ll just have to wait and see.