Isak injury mars perfect night in Germany for Arne Slot with Swede set to miss a significant chunk of games.
Although Arne Slot was happy that Liverpool’s losing streak was over, he is concerned that he may be without Alexander Isak for a few weeks due to the British record signing’s groin injury against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Slot’s request for set-piece improvement was met with two goals from corners by Ibrahima Konaté and Virgil van Dijk as Liverpool defeated them 5-1 in Germany. Isak had to be substituted after 45 minutes of his second start in four days, but the victory broke the Premier League champions’ run of four straight losses. Slot thinks the striker, who missed the majority of Newcastle’s preseason in an effort to pressure a £125 million transfer to Liverpool, may have been overwhelmed by the workload.
Jeremie Frimpong is also facing another spell on the sidelines after sustaining his second hamstring injury of the season.
Slot said of the Isak injury: “Let’s hope it’s not that bad, but he had to go off because he felt his groin. Many people wanted me to play him more and we had to find the balance and unfortunately today that balance didn’t work out for us perfectly. But let’s hope for the best. When he came to the club, he had hardly trained. So you bring him step by step forward and then you feel there must be a moment where he can play twice a week, and the first time we try – he did it with Sweden as well – he has to go off.”
“Alex wasn’t in the red zone because we wouldn’t have played him,” he said. “Normally you try to prepare players for once‑a‑week football, but if you are Liverpool you play every three days or normally three times in eight days but we’ve been unfortunate this season we have to play three times in seven days.
“We’ve tried to prepare him for that programme which is not always so easy when you don’t have a pre‑season. We were really careful. He was perfectly fit when he came back from the national team and before the [Manchester] United game.
“We thought he was well prepared for that but the margins at the top are small. I’m hoping it won’t be that bad, because if he’s out for a few weeks it will put him back. So let’s wait.”