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Slot on Liverpool injury latest ahead of Wolves game
23/12/2025
AXA Training centre, Liverpool, UK
23/12/2025
AXA Training centre, Liverpool, UK
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SportsTranscript
00:00First of all, Alexander Isak, have you got a time frame on how long has it been?
00:10No, it's going to be a long injury for a couple of months.
00:16That's a big disappointment for him and as a result of that also for us.
00:25How does it impact things in January?
00:28I'm thinking it kind of emphasises the need for motivation and obviously not leave the club,
00:33but also would you be looking to add to your forward line,
00:36you're being linked with Antoine Semenya, would that be an option?
00:39I think my first and only thoughts are on the upcoming two games.
00:46Two difficult ones again, two home games, that's really nice.
00:52So I think it's a time for the players we do have available to do what they've done so many times,
00:59to roll their sleeves up and not only our players but our fans as well,
01:02to help us in the best possible way to get the results we want in the upcoming two games.
01:08Therefore the players that are available need to give everything they have,
01:13as the fans, as they usually do, and I expect them to do now again as well,
01:18will help us and that is where my focus is on.
01:22Just in terms of the rest of the injuries, Conor Bradley went off, Joe, Cody and Mendoa,
01:33any updates on those?
01:35Conor will be 50-50, he's not training with us today, not tomorrow,
01:41so Friday we will see where he exactly is, if he can be in the squad, yes or no for the weekend.
01:50Joe won't be available, Wata won't be available, who do I miss?
01:56Cody, a bit similar to Conor.
02:01As far as Wolverhampton Wanderers are concerned, I think the results are clear to see,
02:08but they feel like they're getting near at times, is this a dangerous game?
02:14Yeah, every game in the Premier League is a dangerous game or a difficult game,
02:20but I see the same as what you were just saying,
02:23that the results throughout the whole season haven't been what they were hoping for,
02:27but they come closer and closer to results, especially Arsenal away of course,
02:32where after 90 minutes they won one, or did they score an extra time?
02:37I don't exactly know, but they were very close to a result over there.
02:41So, yeah, as always, there's a challenge in every Premier League game,
02:51and that's the same for this one.
02:54Just with all the injuries we've talked about just then,
02:57are you concerned that the players that aren't injured,
02:59there's almost going to be a little bit too much after them over the coming weeks,
03:02and their workload, are you going to have to give them more minutes than you'd ideally like to?
03:07Yeah, that's the extra problem you get with injuries.
03:12The most injuries we have are not related to overloading,
03:19so if you look at Alex's injury, that has nothing to do with overloading a player.
03:24The same with Wata.
03:27Of course, there are one or two that might have to do with overloading,
03:35so Cody has a muscle injury, and the same is to be said about Joe Gomez,
03:40but this was for me a reckless challenge.
03:45So I think I've said a lot about the tackle of Xavi Simons,
03:50which for me was completely unintentional.
03:53And I don't think you will ever get an injury out of a tackle like that,
04:00the tackle of Van der Ven, if you make that tackle ten times,
04:03I think ten times there's a serious chance that a player gets a serious injury.
04:08Milos Kerkhez says he's developing a nice relationship with Florian Vert,
04:13so I just wonder if you agree,
04:15and is that something you'll look to try and work on and develop
04:18to further use as a weapon going forward?
04:20Yeah, but I think that you pick out these two,
04:24but every player that plays multiple times together
04:27gets a better connection with someone,
04:29and I think that was the same with Cody,
04:34and the more they play together, the better they connect.
04:37So that is not something I'm surprised to hear,
04:42but they haven't played so much together,
04:45so I think now five, six times maybe,
04:48so it's quite normal that you are getting a better connection with a player
04:52than if you play more together.
04:55Karl?
04:57Yeah, I think I said last time already that for his age,
05:02if I'm correct, he's 17, I think he has, I'm not 100 per cent sure,
05:08but the most minutes of all 17-year-olds in the Premier League.
05:23So that tells you how much playing time he gets, how special that already is for a 17-year-old.
05:40That also tells you something about his quality,
05:43because it's not completely normal for a 17-year-old already to have so much playing time as he had.
05:50But it also tells you something about the availability in those areas.
05:55But for the weekend, that's not my biggest concern, that position, I would say.
06:00So hopefully Cody is back, not sure, but hopefully Federico can play there, Florian can play there.
06:06So if he would be a player that would play on a different position,
06:10he would probably have even more chance to come in.
06:14But it's the same for all the other players, I think.
06:18In the game against Tottenham, I had four under-21 players on the bench.
06:22So yeah, that increases the chance for him to come in as well.
06:27So let's see.
06:30You mentioned the development of the you've got issues getting past him right back.
06:36When Jeremy fits in and then he comes back,
06:39played a bit on Sunday, the weekend took him off.
06:43How is he progressing in terms of his goal?
06:48No, in the weekend he was on a maximum of 30 minutes,
06:53because he's been out for quite long.
06:56But yeah, I think he's able to start this weekend if I make that decision.
07:04And sometimes situations change, so you need to take a bit more risk
07:09than you would maybe usually do if everyone was available.
07:12So that's what I mean, the players that are available have to roll their sleeves up,
07:16including our fans, to get the best possible chance of a good outcome in the upcoming two games.
07:26And that's for him the same as the others.
07:28Why I took him off had of course nothing to do with an injury,
07:31that had to do with not being down to ten when you have to defend a set-piece,
07:37because we already had to defend a set-piece with ten men,
07:40and you know the outcome, we conceded.
07:43So that's why we decided to bring...
07:48Federico would definitely come in, but the idea was for someone else,
07:52but I didn't want to go down to ten men in that moment.
07:56Hi, you had already a question about Milos,
08:02but moreover the back position is the only position where you have two men available,
08:11and Milos played three big games for 90 minutes recently,
08:17and he had Krens and Moks difficult in his life.
08:23So do you consider him as a starter or maybe you can give some rest to him?
08:30I rested him during the week against Inter Milan,
08:34so he started indeed three times in the league,
08:37but against Inter Milan, Robertson started,
08:40and indeed I also see that even when I rest him during the week,
08:46he struggles to find the end of the game,
08:50which is not a surprise to me, but it's indeed what's happening.
08:57Let's see, there are quite a lot of days in between Tottenham and this one,
09:02and we're going to train today again,
09:05so let's see where everybody is.
09:07I haven't made up my line-up,
09:09usually we have the press conference one day before the game,
09:11but now it's two weeks before the game.
09:13No, no, four or five days before,
09:16so I don't know what the line-up is going to look like.
09:21Just back at Javi, have you explored the possibility of bringing him back,
09:24or will you explore it?
09:26No, Javi is an Aston Villa player,
09:28and he's supposed to be going there for our season,
09:31so any questions about him the best thing to ask is in Villa,
09:38but they are doing really well, by the way.
09:40Just on Igor, he's had quite a staffing season,
09:45how impressive have you been with him?
09:47What more will you ask of him now, coming weeks?
09:50Still, he needs to get stronger,
09:54but he already became stronger.
09:57I don't think he changed a lot in all his offensive qualities,
10:02he's fast, he can score a goal, he has great footwork,
10:07he gets dribbling skills,
10:09so he has so much in his locker, I think is the way you say it.
10:13But his biggest thing to improve is,
10:17I think he's adjusted to the Premier League now,
10:20now he has to not only adjust,
10:23but make sure with his physique how fast he is,
10:26he can become also physically outstanding,
10:32and that's where he's working on really hard.
10:35I think, same with him by the way,
10:38in the last two, three, four minutes,
10:40he was very, very, very tired in the Tottenham game as well.
10:44So I see this more often,
10:47but that is maybe also because so many of the same players
10:49constantly have to play, there's hardly any rest for them,
10:52so I have to give all of them a lot of compliments
10:54that they constantly can bring what they are bringing,
10:57playing so many games, hardly any rest,
10:59because we don't have so many chances to rotate,
11:02and every single time they fight, fight, fight,
11:05from the first second till the last.
11:07And Hugo is one of them.
11:15Alex, obviously it's been a tough first season for him here,
11:18trying to get up this week,
11:19and then the other boys have gone earlier on.
11:21How much support do you think he's going to need
11:23to help him get through this,
11:24and are you still confident he can play a part
11:26in the back end of the season?
11:27Yeah, the last thing I am.
11:30So, yeah, and the first thing,
11:36it's been a really challenging and difficult period for him, I think.
11:42You join a new club, usually when you join a new club,
11:46he was very excited of course as well,
11:49but you want to show immediately all the qualities you have,
11:52but that was simply impossible.
11:55Maybe no one understands,
11:57but if you haven't trained for three or four months on a serious level with the team,
12:01and you are playing in this league, you need to be on top of your game to impact a game of football.
12:14And that took, which we all knew, months before we could bring him there,
12:19because there was no pre-season, there were games, games, games, games, games,
12:23hardly any time to train.
12:25So we always knew that it would take him time,
12:28and that's why he's so unlucky that he's now injured,
12:34because I think we all saw with his goal against West Ham,
12:38with this goal, that he got closer and closer to the player he was last season at Newcastle.
12:45But yeah.
12:47His chances are the scoring okay.
12:49Yeah.
12:50Is that his cramp?
12:52Yeah, yeah.
12:53Another example of a player that has to play a lot,
12:55and is adjusting better and better and better to the Premier League.
13:00But in an ideal world maybe I could have rested him a little bit more.
13:06But okay, he will be there for us again on Saturday.
13:12On the first round of the season of the 70s goal,
13:15the young score of many this season needed,
13:17is that something you really focussing on at the moment?
13:20Do you think that the record hasn't been raised this season on both sides?
13:25We're not focusing on that at this moment.
13:29We are so focused on that.
13:31I am so focused, and since I'm here as well,
13:34but I know the importance of set-pieces.
13:36It gets more and more and more and more and more.
13:39That's why we are so annoyed by our current record,
13:43because it's impossible to play top four, top five with our set-piece balance,
13:50let alone winning the league.
13:53So we're the only team in the top end of the table that has a negative set-piece balance.
13:58All the others have a positive set-piece balance.
14:00And we're not only negative, we're at minus eight and we're still on equal points.
14:05Fourth, I think, if I'm correct.
14:07So we all know why, because in open chances created we're the number one in the league.
14:13So no one has to tell me how important set-pieces are.
14:18And not even any manager in the world anymore, let alone in the Premier League,
14:22because the Premier League is now, if I say 50-50, I exaggerated a bit too much.
14:27But set-pieces are so, so, so important.
14:32That's why it's a big frustration for us that we are where we are this season,
14:36because last season, when we were halfway through the season,
14:39we hadn't even conceded one set-piece yet.
14:42And in the second half of the season, where I've said many times already
14:45that we didn't play the same football anymore as we did the first half of the season,
14:49not as good anymore for all kinds of reasons,
14:51but we had a great set-piece record because I think we scored seven set-pieces
14:55in the second half of the season.
14:58So it's a chance for you, even in the league, if you have a good set-piece balance.
15:03But if we are minus eight and Chelsea is, I think, plus eight, Arsenal is plus eight,
15:09I don't exactly know the numbers, but they're all...
15:14United is very high in set-pieces.
15:17So if you look at that, you could almost say how special it is
15:21that we are having the points we are having, if you have that set-piece balance.
15:25What's the exchange of the match?
15:27Nothing. Our set-up is the same defensively,
15:32our set-up is the same as almost any other team in the league.
15:36And if you look at XG, you probably know what it is,
15:45then you wouldn't expect us to concede so many goals we've expected.
15:50So you could argue that if things go back to normal,
15:56we will not concede as much anymore.
15:58But is it after half a season still a coincidence
16:01that we concede so much more than what you would expect us to concede?
16:06That's a difficult one, but our set-up has been mostly the same.
16:11Of course, in the summer we've changed players,
16:14everybody only thinks we brought in, but we did lose a few as well.
16:18But I don't even think that has had so much impact,
16:22because the ones we've lost were not the ones that were defensively,
16:26the ones that made sure we didn't concede.
16:30So it's for the break-up.
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