'Common sense' to prioritise Bournemouth game

As far Arne Slot is concerned there iss no such thing as a meaningless match and certainly not in the Champions League. In tonight's final game in the opening section of the Champions League, Liverpool could make it eight wins from eight if they can beat PSV Eindhoven.

They need one point to guarantee top spot. They have already pocketed £47 million in prize money and there is another £2 million coming if they win tonight.

However, given their ridiculously hectic fixture schedule, the Reds manager has decided the virtues of common sense have a superior bargaining power than even an extra couple of million pounds.

By leaving nine of his regular first team squad out of the group that have made the trip to Holland, he has owned up to the fact that he has decided to disengage from that touchstone of the football manager's lexicon of 'one game at a time'.

He has also admitted that, as well as preparing for tonight's game, he is doing some of the necessary planning for Saturday's big Premier League match at Bournemouth. Whatever happens in Eindhoven, it is clear that the game on the south coast is of much more significance.

But that is not because Slot is attaching more importance to winning the Premier League above the Champions League. It is because he realises that even if Liverpool lose tonight - something he and his players are not accustomed to this season - it will not have any effect on who they will be draw against in the first knock-out stages of the competition.

The barely fathomable logistics of the new Champions League set-up does have the advantage of much fewer "dead rubbers". As far as the competition as a whole is concerned we're all set for an exciting finale this evening.

And yet asking more players to play more matches is the absolute opposite of what we should be doing at the elite level of the game - and almost every manager will agree with that.

Given that the new-look format is one of the key factors behind the decision to scrap FA cup replays, isn't that a really sad indictment of the modern game?

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