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Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has revealed that he did not start with Luis Diaz against Burnley because of the Clarets' physical style of play.
The Reds went with the trio of Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah in attack. Mane and Salah featured together for the first time since the first week of January.
The duo were on AFCON duty for more than a month, and their return has boosted the Reds’ squad depth as Klopp decided to play without Diaz and Diogo Jota.
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Diaz put in a good display against Leicester City last Thursday, so his exclusion from the starting XI against Burnley was a bit of a surprise.
After the game, however, Klopp said he did not want Diaz to be exposed to the physicality of the Premier League against Burnley, who do it better than any other side.
"Sad [Sadio Mane] played really, really well. As I said before, it was not the plan to start him today because we know how intense everything was, but Diogo had a dead leg and couldn’t train yesterday, so we started Sadio.
"Luis has adapted really well but this is a completely different game, like a ‘Welcome to the Premier League’, so we didn’t want to try it if we didn’t need it so that’s why we started like we started – and Sad did really well. He worked incredibly hard and that’s exactly what we expected."
Liverpool can afford to rotate with Diaz in the squad
Luis Diaz’s arrival has given Klopp a plethora of options in attack. Against Burnley, it made sense to go with Mane as the Senegalese can deal with the physicality of defenses.
Diaz may not take too long to adapt to the pace of the league, but he certainly needs to be integrated slowly against teams who play a very physical game.
The January signing is expected to play a key role in the second half of the season as Sadio Mane hasn't been at his best.
Liverpool are active in the league and three cup competitions, so they will need to muster all the squad depth in the coming months.
