Liverpool boss, Arne Slot, has hinted that his £125m [Alexander Isak] signing could be given his first minutes of competitive Club football when Atletico Madrid visit Anfield on Wednesday night in the UEFA Champions League opener.
A few eyebrows were raised at Turf Moor on Sunday when the Liverpool contingent arrived at the grounds without the British record signing being spotted amongst the group. Subsequently, it will be revealed that the former Newcastle striker will be missing from the team sheet that afternoon against Burnley. A match the Reds won 1-0, thanks to a late Mohamed Salah penalty.
Slot told reporters why he decided against including his deadline-day addition to the matchday squad. “No, he [ Alexander Isak] did recovery, but he had a hard and tough session yesterday. So, I can explain to you – it will take a few minutes, but it is not that difficult to understand. So, if you start the season when the players who have been off for three or four or five weeks, you give them a certain base. You give them a lot of good sessions before they are able in the end of the week to play 45 minutes.
We got him from Newcastle in a state where you could say his pre-season is going to start now, so then he needs proper minutes of training before he has a certain base, let alone for him to play twice in three days. So, that’s what we do, what we try to prepare players for at the beginning of the season is [to play] once a week, and then we try to do more and more and more for a minimum of two games a week, so they are ready for that schedule.”
Slot further explained why Alexander Isak was behind his teammates in terms of match fitness, even though he came on for 20 minutes for Sweden in their loss to Kosovo in last week’s World Cup qualifier.
“Now, [Alexander Isak] is far from ready for that schedule of three games in a week, 90 minutes. But then we could use him today for five minutes and then Wednesday again 10, and then 15, but we don’t believe that is the way to build him up. We believe it’s the way.
Sweden did the right thing of giving him good sessions without playing him a lot because if you play the player, you cannot give him good sessions. They did the right thing, and we did the same, so now Alexander Isak will be able either Wednesday or Saturday to play 45 as a minimum, and maybe a little bit more. But if he plays 45 on Wednesday, don’t expect him to play 45 or more on Saturday because his body is not prepared for that, in our opinion.”
“We think, with a week when we play three games in seven days, this is the best lead-up for him to be available against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday”, Slot concluded.
Read more: Virgil van Dijk praises Liverpool’s resilience against Burnley
Arne Slot explains decision to leave out Alexander Isak against Burnley
Mohamed Salah reacts as Liverpool secure late win at Burnley
