'I saw' - Arne Slot gives honest verdict on Federico Chiesa's performance during Liverpool victory
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has admitted that Federico Chiesa delivered a mixed performance on his return from injury.
The Reds battled to a 2-1 win over Southampton in the Carabao Cup quarter-final at St Mary’s. Despite making wholesale changes to the starting XI, along with completely resting the likes of Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Ryan Gravenberch, Liverpool dominated the first half. Goals from Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott gave the visitors a 2-0 lead at the interval.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdSlot subsequently made the decision to bring on Chiesa for his first appearance since the end of September after injury. The £10 million summer signing from Juventus struggled to make a real impact at times, though, with Liverpool’s lead reduced on the hour mark when Cameron Archer bagged for Southampton. Chiesa then spurned a chance to restore the two-goal advantage before having a shot that was heading for the far corner blocked on the line.
Having been frozen out at Juve during pre-season, the Reds are being patient with Chiesa as he attempts to find full sharpness. An honest Slot liked some moments from the Italy international - but believes there is plenty of scope for improvement.
The Anfield head coach said: “I don't know if we saw it the same, but I think what I saw is what you can expect. If a player is out for five or six months you cannot expect [too much]. I saw ups and downs. I saw some really good moments and I saw some moments where I felt like, ‘OK, you can do better than this.’ For me, that's completely normal if a player has been out for so long and plays his first game in five or six months.
I already said before that it makes it so difficult for me because normally in the pre-season a player gets three, four, or five games especially and then he's only out for four or five weeks. Instead, he was out for so long, so to get him back to him best level is not easy, but it was good to see that he showed some quality already today. But it's the same for him like the youngsters, it's not enough to play at this level, you have to compete with Mo Salah, Cody Gakpo, Lucho, Darwin and Diogo. But it's good to see that he's back and that he had a few good moments in the game.
Comment Guidelines
National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.