Slot explains decision to play Diaz as a striker after his hat-trick helps Liverpool thrash Leverkusen | OneFootball

Arne Slot hailed Luis Diaz and explained his decision to play him as a striker in the 4-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen.

Diaz played more centrally than his usual left-wing position in Liverpool’s Champions League win and rewarded his manager’s decision with a hat-trick.

Explaining his thought process, Slot said: “A few things. I only have four attackers available at the moment with the injuries of Diogo Jota and Federico Chiesa. Darwin didn’t play that much in the beginning then started playing a bit more.

“With this fixture list, it’s almost impossible to play them all, especially if you haven’t played that many games before.

“So that in combination with the fact that Tah is a really good defender, one of the best defenders in Germany, maybe the best defender in Germany, and he likes to play maybe more against the target man in the middle so we chose with Diaz more to the left and in the midfield and maybe surprise him with runs in behind. Not just him but in general.

“If you look at the first goal, that paid off and what a pass from Curtis Jones.”

Slot admits he will likely only play Diaz centrally if there are injury problems in his squad, however.

“If we have more injuries like we have at the moment then that could happen, yeah,” he added.

“It also depends on who is available and how the other team lines up and what the formation is.”