Tribal Football

Liverpool boss Slot ponders Brighton selection; admits Chiesa fitness concerns

Paul Vegas
Liverpool boss Slot ponders Brighton selection; admits Chiesa fitness concerns
Liverpool boss Slot ponders Brighton selection; admits Chiesa fitness concernsAction Plus
Liverpool boss Arne Slot says rotations are unlikely at Brighton for tomorrow's Carabao Cup tie.

Slot admits their injury-list will prevent him from making wholesale changes on Wednesday night.

Advertisement
Advertisement

He said, "I don't think it's possible to do the same as we did against West Ham for the simple reason that we've got some injuries so we don't have enough players to change them all, if I wanted that.

"I think if you look at our schedule and the amount of times we have less days to recover apart from our opponent, it might be a moment for us to see some other players but I first have to see how fit everybody is.

"Conor (Bradley) is training with us again so maybe he could be in the squad tomorrow. (Diogo) Jota not, Alisson not, Harvey Elliott not and Federico (Chiesa) not."

On how long Chiesa will be out for, Slot said: "It's always difficult to say because he goes a bit up and down so sometimes he's there with us and trains a few days and then goes out for an injury again. I don't want to put days or weeks on it because I think we just have to make sure he gets in the best possible shape and don't put any pressure on him."

The manager also discussed Wataru Endo's lack of minutes: "I think Wataru is one of the players that might be in the line-up because the season is so long and we will need him during the season and therefore he needs once in a while playing time as well. Fortunately he has this with the national team but it helps once in a while if he gets it with us.

"I really liked him against West Ham and what I admire about him is his personality because two times he had to come in five minutes before the end and sometimes in my managerial career I have sometimes seen players that come in five minutes from the end, they come in with a negative face and play like that. Every time if we need him, even if it's for five minutes - he shows up for his team-mates and for himself. He deserves to play tomorrow."