Liverpool flop proves Arne Slot made the wrong selection after 30% ground duel disaster vs Everton

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Arne Slot may have maintained his perfect Premier League record with the 2-1 win against Everton, but he made a selection decision that could have proven costly.

The Liverpool boss made the shocking decision to leave both Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz on the bench for the first Merseyside derby of the season.

However, Hugo Ekitike continues to improve at Anfield, scoring his third goal in five outings and his first against Everton, which doubled the Reds’ lead.

Ryan Gravenberch opened the scoring as he continues his exceptional form in the Premier League, but it was the Frenchman who scored the decisive goal after Idrissa Gueye halved the deficit midway through the second half.

And while Slot’s decision to exclude his two marquee signings from the starting line-up dominated the headlines, a player he did decide to start is fortunate his contributions did not cost the champions.

Conor Bradley couldn’t handle Jack Grealish at Anfield

While Conor Bradley impressed on international duty with Northern Ireland upon his return from injury, his display for the Reds in the Merseyside derby left a lot to be desired.

Indeed, a lot of the focus in the build-up to Saturday’s clash surrounded whether Jack Grealish could continue his sensational start to life at the Hill Dickinson Stadium and help Everton cause an upset at Anfield.

Slot was urged to drop Jeremie Frimpong for the 22-year-old as Bradley was identified as the best option at right-back to neutralise Grealish.

Meanwhile, what occurred at Anfield couldn’t have been much worse for Bradley as his 88% pass completion percentage stood as his only positive showing from the derby.

Grealish threatened often from the left flank, and his three chances created were more than any other player on the pitch – Bradley should consider himself lucky that none of his chances resulted in goals.

It was far from a trademark display from the young right-back and indicative of the wider problem facing Bradley at Anfield; whenever he seems set to stake a serious claim to be a regular starter, he produces a performance such as the one against Everton.

Jeremie Frimpong should be Liverpool’s right-back moving forward

With Frimpong not featuring at all in the Merseyside derby, the Dutchman is likely to return to the side for the upcoming Carabao Cup match against Southampton.

And should he perform in a similar vein to his display in the Champions League win over Atletico Madrid, it is hard to envision a scenario where Bradley will be able to reclaim his place in the starting line-up.

Slot will, of course, regularly rotate his right-back options ahead of a hectic domestic and European schedule, but Frimpong, at this moment in time, appears more suited for the big occasion.

Bradley spent the entirety of his Liverpool career before this season deputising for Trent Alexander-Arnold, and unless he finds a way to make a recognisable impact when given the opportunity, he will face a similar situation with Frimpong.