Caoimhín Kelleher not guaranteed to start Carabao Finals, says manager Arne Slot after Liverpool beat Spurs at Anfield.
Caoimhín Kelleher starting the Carabao Cup Final is not a guarantee, says Liverpool boss Slot.
In 2022, Kelleher scored a penalty in the shootout triumph over Thomas Tuchel’s team and started Liverpool’s last two competition finals against Chelsea, both of which ended in clean sheets. As a reward for his efforts in earlier stages, former boss Jürgen Klopp had promised the Republic of Ireland international a starting position at Wembley.
Slot maintains that there are no guaranteed spots at Wembley, despite the fact that the 26-year-old has played against West Ham, Southampton, and Tottenham this season.
“We never know what the situation is around a final: how fit everyone is, do they need a game, yes or no?” said the Liverpool head coach. “I cannot guarantee anything. I never guarantee anything to players so far in advance and that is not what I am going to do now.”
“Almost every time we have played the second goalkeeper in the League Cup,” he said. “At Brighton it was Vitos [Jaros] because at that moment Caoimhín was the No 1 as Alisson was injured.
“The one exception was Tottenham away [in the semi-final first leg] where Alisson was coming back from injury and I felt he needed some extra playing time. Three days later we played the Accrington Stanley game and then three days after that we played Nottingham Forest. I felt it was better for him to play against Tottenham, then have a week’s rest and then play Forest. It was more with the idea of being best prepared for the league. Yesterday was a League Cup game so that meant Caoimhín was in goal and he absolutely deserved to be in goal for everything he did this season.”
“It’s not going to take months or even weeks but that game is only three days after Plymouth, so let’s wait and see if he is available,” Slot said. “We also have to look at the long term. We don’t want to take any risks with so many games coming up but if he’s fit then of course we will use him.”