Injury Update: Aston Villa v Liverpool

Arne Slot spoke to the press ahead of Liverpool's first match after the 3rd International break of the season. The next few weeks are crucial for Slot as he looks to steady the ship following a bitterly disappointing few months at Anfield.

Defensive Issue

The initial question posed to Slot was discussing the January transfer window, and his thoughts on possible signings that could be made, with Arne claiming the winter window to be “The last thing on my mind”. Asked about the possibility of bringing in some defenders, such as Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi, Slot stood firm behind his current roster, with 3 centre backs, plus Ryan Gravenberch and Wataru Endo also able to fill in at the back.

                                                                                                                                                                                             Credit: Liverpool FC

With Jeremy Frimpong and Giovanni Leone already out, and now news of Connor Bradley also likely to be out for the foreseeable future, the club has 5 “natural defenders” to play across those 7 games, and no pure Right back, Slot will Rely on Joe Gomez moving across or pulling back Dominik Szoboszlai or Curtis Jones into the position.

Fitness Following the International Break

Following the most recent international break there have been some updates regarding fitness, starting with news of Alisson, Liverpool’s Number 1 has been back in training following his recent time away due to a hamstring injury, with Slot stating that “If he is ready to play, then he will start”. Though that good news was followed with some new injury news, with Conner Bradly and Florian Wirtz picking up muscle related issues playing for their countries.

Slot was also hoping for Alexander Isak to get more game time with Sweden, but due to the striker being one yellow from suspension, he was chosen not to play, again missing crucial game time to get him into the form he had last season at Newcastle. Form being a recurring topic in the conference, with slot saying, “variation of form is not only an issue with the new signings but with the players we already have” and believing the main issue over form is the players match fitness.

Arne also addressed the impact of the passing of Diogo Jota on the clubs form following comments Andy Robertson made after Scotland’s qualification into the World Cup, saying they miss him as a player and as a person.

Nottingham Forest

Little time was actually given to focussing on this weekends opposition, with Slott expecting a similar game to last season, even with Forrest going through 2 managerial changes since the previous meeting, as he feels though no 2 managers are exactly alike, current manager Sean Dyche’s play style is closer to that of Nuno Espirito Santos, than Ange Postecoglou’s would have been.#

Konate Contract Update

Regarding the future of Konate at the club Slott was questioned on any updates, regarding the French internationals contract, and if he hopes to keep him beyond the end of the season. “My answer would probably be the one you expect, do I have to say it” Slott jovially responded, before the end of the conference, clearly hoping to keep their defender in the face of a slowly weakening back line.   

The main takeaways from todays press conference is that for now it feels like Slot is standing by his current team, with hopes that in time when fitness and form returns to then they will hopefully return to last season’s dominance, though Slot said that at this point it’s all about focussing on the next game, and that “the best way to judge a league table is after 38 games, but the next best thing is after 19 games.” So hopefully by early January we will have a better idea of what this season holds for the Reds.