Arne Slot is facing fresh injury concerns after Alexander Isak and Jeremie Frimpong were both forced off during Liverpool’s 5-1 Champions League thrashing of Eintracht Frankfurt.
Isak, who started alongside Hugo Ekitike in attack for the first time since their summer arrivals, looked lively in the first half and twice came close to scoring.
However, the Swedish striker did not return after the interval, with Slot confirming he had suffered a groin problem.
The Liverpool boss is now waiting to learn the extent of the issue.
“Let’s hope it’s not that bad, but he had to go off because he felt his groin,” said the Reds boss.
“Many people wanted me to play him more and we had to find the balance and unfortunately today that balance didn’t work out for us perfectly. But let’s hope for the best.
“Today with Alex and Hugo, I brought two players on the pitch who are usually able to score goals. Alex was a few times close but had to go off at half-time, and that’s the difficult balance we are having with him.
“When he came to the club, he had hardly trained. So you bring him step by step forward, and then you feel there must be a moment where he can play twice a week, and the first time we try – he did it with Sweden as well – but the first time we try he has to go off.”
Arne Slot added: “Alex wasn’t in the red zone because we wouldn’t have played him.
“Normally you try to prepare players for once a week football, but if you are Liverpool you play every three days or normally three times in eight days but we’ve been unfortunate this season we have to play three times in seven days.
“We’ve tried to prepare him for that programme which is not always so easy when you don’t have a pre-season. We were really careful.
“He was perfectly fit when he came back from the national team (last week) and before the United game.
“We thought he was well prepared for that but the margins at the top are small. I’m hoping it won’t be that bad, because if he’s out for a few weeks it will put him back. So let’s wait.”
Frimpong, meanwhile, was replaced in the 19th minute after pulling up with what appeared to be another hamstring injury, the same problem that sidelined him for a month earlier in the season.
Slot admitted after the match that he expects the right-back to face another spell on the sidelines.
“It’s not helpful with Alisson and Giovanni Leoni already out that I expect Jeremie Frimpong to definitely be out now for a few weeks,” said Slot.
“Jeremie is a hamstring issue. He came back from a hamstring injury a few weeks ago. Now unfortunately he’s had to go off.
“People like to talk us as we have 25-30 first-team players, but when we play 11 v 11 in training session we almost always need players from the under-21s.”
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