Arne Slot has urged patience as Liverpool’s new signings continue to settle into the squad.
Despite a big-spending summer that saw Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak arrive as the club’s two most expensive signings, Liverpool have struggled for consistency, with Hugo Ekitike the standout among the new faces so far.
Speaking ahead of the Reds’ clash with Leeds, Slot pointed to injuries and the need for time as key factors in helping the squad fully gel.
“I think if you bring in a lot of new players and a lot of players are gone, usually you see them playing better football after they’ve been together a bit longer,” Arne Slot said.
“There’s more training time, there’s more playing time together.
“I think you could see this last season because that team was all the same with Jurgen (Klopp) the year before.
“Especially the first half of the season, I thought we played some very good football.
“That’s helpful if players are together longer and I think history has shown many times the longer players are playing together, the bigger chance you have of winning something.
“If you add players to what you have, there’s also a serious chance of improving. If you replace, like we’ve done, then it takes time, and then usually it gets better after a certain period of time.
“Unfortunately, we won’t see Giovanni Leoni this season and Alex (Isak) is going to take a long time before we see him again.
“You can do the numbers of how much that is, and if you combine that with how much we’ve sold, that’s maybe an interesting story to make.”
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