Slot and his staff had not seen that rapid failure coming. “If he had been in the danger zone, we would not have let him play,” the manager said afterwards. “We thought he was well prepared, but the margins are small at the top of the rankings. He is suffering from a hamstring injury.”
Aleksander Isak
Slot also saw his expensive summer purchase (145 million euros) Alexander Isak drop out with a groin injury. “Alex was close to scoring a few times, but had to leave the field at halftime. That is the difficult balance we have with him. He hardly trained before he came,” Slot said in the press conference afterwards. “You have the feeling that there must be a moment when he can play twice a week. The first time we try, he has to leave the field. Let’s hope that doesn’t turn out too bad.”
Bad series broken: Liverpool wins big in Champions League against Eintracht Frankfurt, partly thanks to goals from Van Dijk and Gakpo
“At Liverpool you play every three days. We have already had to play three times in seven days this season, which is difficult without proper preparation,” the Dutch coach emphasizes.
Goals Cody Gakpo and Virgil van Dijk
Yet there is plenty of positive news to report for Slot. Liverpool finally won again after four defeats in a row. After a poor start, the Reds established themselves through five different goalscorers, including Cody Gakpo and Virgil van Dijk. However, the important 1-1 came from Hugo Ekitike. “That was special,” says Slot. “You could see it in his face; that moment meant a lot.”
“We have created a lot of chances lately, but did not score,” Slot continued. “Today I had two players on the pitch with Isak and Ekitike who can normally score goals. They both did what I hoped for: run deep and make you a big threat. They both did well.”