Liverpool boss Arne Slot shares what he and Trent Alexander-Arnold said to each other after Aston Villa substitution

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Liverpool manager Arne Slot raised some eyebrows in Wednesday night’s trip to Aston Villa when he took Trent Alexander-Arnold off just after the hour mark.

Liverpool took the lead through Mohamed Salah in the Premier League trip to Villa Park, but goals from Youri Tielemans and Ollie Watkins turned the game around.

However, Liverpool did enough to salvage a draw when Trent Alexander-Arnold emphatically fired in after being set up by Salah.

Slot then made the decision to take Alexander-Arnold off, which annoyed a number of Liverpool fans, along with Diogo Jota’s substitution.

Slot has now revealed exactly what he said to Alexander-Arnold after substituting him, along with what the Liverpool right-back said in response.

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Liverpool boss Arne Slot says he reminded Trent Alexander-Arnold of prior game time conversations

Slot took Alexander-Arnold off because he had not long come back from injury, the Liverpool manager confirmed after the game.

The Reds ace recently missed two games – the FA Cup loss against Plymouth and the League Cup second-leg hammering of Tottenham – with a hamstring injury.

And the following day, Slot said he and Alexander-Arnold had a brief exchange about how the plan was always for him to come off.

“We spoke about this already a week ago, that in these five games he already knows how many minutes he would make,” Slot told the Liverpool website.

“That was in a situation where Conor [Bradley] was available as well. Now we maybe have to adjust our plan.

“I said to him, ‘You know why I take you off, don’t you?’ He said, ‘Yeah, we spoke about it.’

“But, of course, a player has adrenaline and had just scored. It was a better moment than against Wolves when he lost the ball just before I took him off. He is improving.”

How Trent Alexander-Arnold fared against Aston Villa

Alexander-Arnold was impressive against Villa as he scored the goal that claimed a point for Liverpool and also chipped in defensively.

Alexander-Arnold also found the target with five of his seven long balls and one of his two crosses, and 37 of his 43 passes found the target.

With so many Premier League teams finding themselves with depleted squads, Slot is right to be cautious with players who’ve not long returned from injury.