Arne Slot told to drop ‘not good’ £29.5m Liverpool star for Everton clash

Paul Merson says Arne Slot should drop a £29.5million Liverpool star for the Premier League Merseyside derby against Everton on Saturday.

Fresh off their injury-time Champions League victory against Atletico Madrid, Liverpool will hope to continue their 100 per cent start when they welcome their local rivals to Anfield.

Barring the Community Shield defeat on penalties to Crystal Palace, the Reds have won all five of their games this season, though they’ve required late winners in all of them.

Slot spent £422m on seven players over the summer, yet only striker Hugo Ekitike has hit the ground running and the Merseyside derby will be a tough test for the Reds, especially given Everton’s strong start to the season, spearheaded by Manchester City loanee Jack Grealish.

And Merson believes one of the big summer signings should be benched for the huge game and thinks Slot will consider dropping another after a poor start to the season.

‘I would choose Conor Bradley at right-back because of Grealish,’ the Arsenal legend told Sportskeeda.

‘If you play Jeremie Frimpong there, he’s not a good defender and he bombs forward all the time. So I think Bradley is the best choice at right-back in this game.

‘Arne Slot will have another headache on the other side, where Milos Kerkez has failed to hit the ground running.

‘Not only did Andy Robertson replace him in the first half vs Burnley, but the Scot also scored against Atletico in the Champions League.’

After signing from Bayer Leverkusen, Frimpong scored on his debut in the Community Shield, but the start of his Anfield career has been disrupted by a hamstring injury.

Bradley and midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai have filled in at right-back in his absence, though Frimpong was fit enough to start against Atletico on Wednesday night.

As for Kerkez, the £40m signing from Bournemouth was billed as the long-term successor to Robertson but has been criticised after poor performances against Palace and Arsenal.

Moreover, he was embarrassingly subbed off after just 38 minutes at Turf Moor last week after being booked for diving and then coming close to a second yellow card, with Robertson going on to start and score against Atletico.

Merson predicts Liverpool will narrowly win the derby 2-1 but feels that Slot is also playing one of his marquee signings out of position, adding: ‘What I’d like to also see is Florian Wirtz playing on the left.

‘It will give him more space to create problems. At the moment, it feels like he’s a bit claustrophobic in midfield.

‘Wirtz should play just like how Jeremy Doku did against Manchester United. If he does that, it will be hard for teams to pick him up.

‘I have no doubt that Wirtz will eventually come good wherever he plays because he’s top-drawer. But this change to the left will give him a better chance of shining in the next game.’

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