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The announcement encapsulated the challenges Liverpool has faced this season.
As Alexander Isak, their record-breaking acquisition, nears the end of a grueling recovery from a broken leg, manager Arne Slot now faces fresh setbacks with Mohamed Salah and Alisson joining the injury list.
The Liverpool manager has often found himself either publicly discussing these injury woes or grappling with the dilemma of strategizing matches with only 12 to 13 players available from his first team.
Salah is set to miss the upcoming weekend clash against Brighton and will also be absent from Egypt’s international lineup. Their match against Spain, originally scheduled for Qatar, has been relocated to Barcelona amidst the ongoing Middle East conflict.
Similarly, Alisson will be absent and has pulled out from Brazil’s national team commitments. However, Liverpool has yet to disclose the nature of his injury, and Slot remained tight-lipped about it during his latest press briefing.
Salah’s muscle issue is not thought to be serious – nor a lengthy lay-off forecast – but the timing could not be more Sod’s Law: just as the 33-year-old puts in his best performance of the season against Galatasaray playing in a more central role, he pulls up injured.
Manager Arne Slot insists fans will see the best of record signing Alexander Isak next season Â
Mohamed Salah was back in form against Galatasaray but suffered an injury late in the game
Liverpool are hopeful of having Isak back for the Champions League quarter-final tie against Paris Saint-Germain, or certainly the second leg at Anfield. He is back running on grass and Slot might consider playing him in an Under 21 game or friendly in the next fortnight.
‘If you want to have the player who played exactly a year ago against us in the Carabao Cup final (for Newcastle) and was too good for us on that day, then I would tell you I have my doubts about that after seven or eight months out,’ said Slot, keen to temper expectations.
‘But I expect that I can use him for minutes. Exactly what I get from that I cannot tell you because he hasn’t trained with the team even once.’
The head coach added: ‘It is 100 per cent fans will see the best of him next season and we are trying to make sure that we will see close to the best or the best of him this season. I am just as excited as the fans to have him back.’
Injuries have been a consistent worry for Slot, who also has defenders Conor Bradley and Giovanni Leoni out for the season. As if cursed, Jeremy Jacquet fractured his shoulder playing for Rennes weeks after agreeing to join Liverpool in the summer.
This week has been illustrative of their issues. There were around 62 hours between full-time against Galatasaray and kick-off 270 miles south at Brighton’s Amex Stadium. It has been a true test of the sport science department, not for the first time this season due to fixture congestion.
Players would have gone to sleep into the small hours of Thursday morning and been back in the training ground (many live up to an hour away) late morning for recovery sessions. Between the two matches, they will do on-pitch training for a maximum of 20 minutes.
They flew to Brighton on Friday afternoon and stayed the night in a hotel, with video meetings the main form of tactical work. Effectively, Slot’s main focus is getting the players to have eight or nine hours of sleep and nutritious meals.
‘Meetings have to do the job,’ he said. ‘The good thing is we’ve had eight or nine months together, it is not like I have to teach them something today and if I do not we cannot play a game of football. We know our style, we know what to expect.
‘This is almost the whole season, it is hardly any training now, it is all about recovery, recovery, recovery.’
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Had the game been at, say 8pm, Liverpool might have slightly benefited and players could have had an afternoon nap.
There is also the fact that some players, like striker Hugo Ekitike, had been observing Ramadan fasts until Eid this week, while it has been impossible to take many days off in the last fortnight.
Liverpool are not the only victims of this, but Slot has been hit hard by injuries and the hamster wheel of the modern-day relentless football calendar.Â
Privately, he may welcome the upcoming international break after a gruelling run of 28 games since his last week off – but Slot will only truly enjoy putting his feet up if he leaves sunny Sussex with three points.