Arne Slott has provided an update on Alexander Isak after he was selected in Liverpool’s squad for the trip to Paris to face PSG in the Champions League.
Arne Slott talks about Alexander Isak (Image: (FRANCK FIFE / AFP via Getty Images))
Manager Arne Slott has confirmed that Alexander Isak will not start for Liverpool against Paris Saint-Germain – but could feature at the Parc des Princes. Isak was selected for the Reds’ squad for the first time since breaking his leg in December and traveled to France with the Reds.
The Sweden international returned to first-team training last week but was left out of the squad for Saturday’s 4-0 FA Cup defeat to Manchester City. However, the forward is set to return to action for the first time since breaking a bone in his foot following a challenge from Mickey van de Ven in his team’s 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur just before Christmas.
“He has completed nearly a week of team training sessions. He can play a role, but otherwise I won’t take him,” Slott admitted in Tuesday night’s pre-match press conference.
“I didn’t take him to the Etihad because I felt he couldn’t perform yet. We think we can get performance out of him now, but we’re not starting now.”
The Reds arrived in Paris in the spotlight after Saturday’s 4-0 defeat at the Etihad Stadium, as well as a 2-1 defeat at Brighton before the international break. In his post-match speech at the weekend, captain Virgil van Dijk frankly acknowledged his team’s defeat against City and apologized to supporters for his side’s performance.
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And when asked about the centre-back’s comments, Slott said: “Sometimes in a football game you want to do things a certain way and for various reasons you don’t want to do it.
“But one of them is you can definitely concede when you think you’re playing well and you’re in the game. Usually the most hurtful moments in football are just before and after half-time.
“Right after half-time we were down 3-0 and then for five minutes you could see we were too open and our players were struggling.
“The good thing was that after 4-0 City seemed happy with it and they couldn’t create any more chances because we always had the ball.
Arne Slott and Virgil van Dijk after Liverpool’s FA Cup defeat to Man City (Image: James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)
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“I didn’t see the players giving up, but it’s good for the captain to have a strong and solid reaction after a game like that. Hopefully we can show a strong and solid reaction as a team tomorrow evening, not just immediately after the game.”
Luis Enrique’s side are the favorites to take the lead with equal points, but Slott believes: “I don’t think it matters whether there is a favorite or not. It’s only about two games and a lot can happen between those two games. Both teams have very good players and they showed last season that they can compete evenly.”
“I think we deserved to lose 4-0 here last season, but it was thanks to Alisson that we didn’t lose 4-0 in that game. I think we deserved to win that game at Anfield.”
“The difference between these two teams is that PSG kept the group together. I think our team will be different from the team that was here last season.”
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