The Dutchman spoke in Friday morning’s pre-match press conference on the duo who picked up knocks against Real Madrid in last month’s Champions League victory. Slot gave a timeline on the pair and explained why they are not in contention for this weekend.
“These are the two that are still ‘in the red’, so they don’t train with us at the moment. They are on their way back but they don’t train with the team yet.
“That is, what I’ve said before, quite difficult. We thought, I thought, that (Diogo) Jota would have been back a bit earlier already and sometimes the end stage of rehab takes a bit longer.”
The Liverpool boss revealed he and his coaching staff are being cautious with both players as rushing them back to the squad could limit their progress or make their injuries even worse.
“Sometimes they join (training) and then they are like, ‘I’m not completely ready to start yet.’ So, let’s wait and see but we have very good rehab personnel over here and they’ve done some good work already with Alisson (Becker) and a few others.
“The main thing is that if they come back, they are ready to come back and we must not focus on one, two or three days. It’s more important for the long term that they stay fit afterwards.
“Until now they have done really well and hopefully with Conor and Ibou the same thing happens.”
Both sides come off the back of EFL Cup victories against Southampton and Manchester United and will be full of confidence as they meet for the first time since the Reds hammered Spurs 4-2 back in May.