Liverpool’s Champions League exit forces drastic change of strategy among Dream Team bosses

MAKE no mistake, Liverpool’s exit from the Champions League will have huge ramifications in Dream Team.

Many gaffers will have wanted several of Arne Slot’s favourites in their ranks for the rest of the season with a view to targeting European points, perhaps all the way until the final in late May.

But the Reds’ elimination at the hands of PSG via a penalty shootout has changed the outlook entirely.

Gigi Donnarumma saved spot-kicks from Darwin Nunez (£3.8m) and Curtis Jones (£2.5m) to send the Anfield crowd home in a state of shock on Tuesday night.

Liverpool remain overwhelming favourites to win the Premier League and they have a chance to lift silverware at Wembley this weekend in the Carabao Cup final.

While a successful campaign is still highly likely, Dream Team bosses should be aware of the impact their shootout defeat will have on the schedule.

After this Sunday’s meeting with Newcastle in the capital, Liverpool’s only remaining games will be their last nine league fixtures – who could forget their FA Cup loss to Plymouth in the fourth round?

Therefore, their players will have fewer point-scoring opportunities than the English teams who remain active in Europe.

Arsenal, Aston Villa and Chelsea are all up on aggregate in their respective round of 16 ties while Manchester United are locked at 1-1 with Real Sociedad ahead of Thursday’s second leg at Old Trafford.

Tottenham lost 1-0 to AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands but have a chance to overturn that deficit in North London this week.

At the very least, it seems likely that three Premier League clubs will have two quarter-final legs to fulfil across Gameweeks 30 and 31.

When that time comes, the likes of Ollie Watkins (£5.2m), Cole Palmer (£5.6m) and Gabriel (£4.8m) will be more appealing than Liverpool counterparts Cody Gakpo (£4.6m), Luis Diaz (£3.4m) and Virgil van Dijk (£4.8m).

For the simple reason that more fixtures generally equals more points.

This is not to say that gaffers should rush to ditch their Liverpool assets.

Mohamed Salah (£8m) remains the game’s top performer by a gigantic margin, 120 points to be precise.

While Trent Alexander-Arnold (£5.7m) is 47 points clear at the top of the defensive rankings, although he is now an availability doubt having suffered an injury of some kind against PSG.

The point is that Slot’s side have been the best team in the country this season and they will probably provide plenty of points in their remaining fixtures.

Gaffers will have to weigh up their prospects against rivals with a fixture advantage on a Gameweek-by-Gameweek basis.

In a way, this development is good for the game as it opens up many more viable strategies.

Had Liverpool edged out Luis Enrique’s side and progressed to the final of the Champions League, almost every engaged manager would have the same four or five players locked in their XI for the remainder of the campaign.

As it is, gaffers may be divided on the subject of Liverpool’s top stars from the international break onwards.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk