Gary Lineker says Arne Slot said something 'quite funny' after Liverpool win

Gary Lineker said he found it "quite funny" that changed his tune on early kick-offs following European matches, after two players picked up injuries during the win over Crystal Palace.

Prior to the game at Selhurst Park, "Ten out of 18 away games last season didn't lead to a win, so you can argue, is it the 12.30 kick-off or is it just difficult to play an away game?" Slot said in his press conference last Friday. "Against Newcastle and Forest last season, they were two other matches where there were last-second winners for Liverpool. So that shows you how difficult it is to play an away game in this league.

"Because we've played so many times at 12.30, people talk about 12.30 - I think we have to talk about an away game that is difficult. Because if 12.30 was a difficult time to perform, then I'm a really stupid manager because we train every day at 12 o'clock, so I don't see the idea behind it being difficult to perform at that time."

However, after Alexis Mac Allister and Alisson both went off injured during Saturday's 1-0 win, Slot suggested that Liverpool's congested fixture schedule might contributed to the problem.

“Maybe this is also something the FA should look at. If you play Wednesday evening, why do we have an early kick-off in an away game?” Slot said. “Or they have to look at me and rotate all my players, but maybe it is also bad luck. I don’t know, but it’s not the way we wanted it."

Lineker appeared to aim a dig at Slot over his comments, saying: “I thought it was quite funny that Arne Slot the day before the game said about after playing in Europe then having to come back and play in the early kick-off, 'it doesn’t make any difference. It shouldn’t matter, it’s nothing'.

“And then after the game, when his team were a little bit jaded probably, he has gone, 'we really need to look at this'. Well, they got two injuries, so I understand why he switched it a little bit. Who knows whether that was anything to do with that, but it was quite interesting.”

Alisson is facing a few weeks out with a hamstring problem and thus will not link up with the Brazil squad for its upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Peru. Mac Allister, meanwhile, will fly to South America for further evaluation to see if he can take part in either of Argentina's fixtures against Venezuela and Bolivia.