It’s been a strange December for Arne Slot so far but a return to league action should bring with it some injured players who are plotting a comeback.
Speaking with the press before our match with Fulham, our head coach was asked whether Diogo Jota and Federico Chiesa would be available for the match and said: “I think they are [available].
“We have one training session to go. Federico missed quite a lot for a long time, was ill last week, so we have to wait and see how he is exactly doing.
“But maybe Diogo is in the squad and maybe Federico as well, but that depends a bit on the numbers we have and also how he recovered from his illness.”
Before later adding on the Italian: “What makes it difficult is that we play so many games.
“What he needs is playing time and the problem is if you haven’t played for five or six months it is sometimes difficult for a manager to give him his first minutes, because you don’t exactly know what you can expect.
“Yes, I see him on the training ground, but ideally you see him in a friendly during the week or you see him in an U21 game or something like this – but that is not the situation we have, we play so many games.
“Maybe the Southampton game might be a good moment for him to get some playing minutes and then we know a bit better what we can expect from him. Of course we see his qualities, we know his qualities but he needs to get this fitness level.
“If you only have training sessions, that is not the same as playing time. You need to have playing time to reach certain fitness levels. But if you are competing for the league and competing in the Champions League it’s not always easy to find these minutes, unless we are sometimes 4-0 or 5-0 up.
“But for the whole season I think it was only once, against Bournemouth at home 3-0 up at half-time, for the rest it’s been a struggle or a fight until the last second of every game.”
It’s positive news then that our attacking department is about to be seriously bolstered and will finally look to have six options on hand again.
It was reported on Thursday that the attacking duo could be poised for a return given their presence in training and that certainly seems to be true.
With the Italian already playing for the Under-21s and scoring on his injury return, we could feel that his comeback was looming.
As the boss says though, it’s just about managing the minutes of both men so that they can regain their form and not pick up further fitness concerns.
With so many already out of the squad, the prospect of rushing people back for them to go missing for several more weeks is certainly not one any of us want to see.
You can watch Slot’s Jota and Chiesa fitness update via Liverpool FC on YouTube:
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The post Arne Slot provides positive two-man injury update; duo could be back vs Fulham appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.
