Arne Slot spoke to the press ahead of Liverpool’s trip to Chelsea, the Liverpool head coach spoke on his impression of goalkeeper Giorgi Marmardashvili, who will be filling in for the injured Alisson:
“I think we’ve seen against Southampton how well he’s adjusted. We knew that we were bringing in a very good goalkeeper. But when he plays his first game, that’s always the best way of seeing that he’s adjusted well or not – and I think we’ve seen in that game that he’s adjusted really well to our goal,
which is not a surprise because he’s a quality goalkeeper. Now he can do what Caoimh [Caoimhín Kelleher] had to do so many times in the past, replacing Alisson – hopefully in a way Caoimh did so many times before.”
Though the Reds boss is forced to give Mamardashvili a start at the weekend, in other positions he has a few players who would all like the minutes. The right back position has seen a lot of changes at the start of the season, and Slot spoke against the notion that players are “frustrated” with their lot:
“I don’t think [they are frustrated] at the moment because Conor Bradley has been out with an injury in pre-season that brought him into the season with an injury. And Jeremie Frimpong the same, he has been out with an injury as well. I would be surprised if players are complaining that they don’t play if they are injured. That would be something new to me.
“Yes, they’ve come back from their injuries but, like Alexander Isak, we don’t believe it’s possible if you’ve been out for three or four weeks with an injury that you can play three games in a week. Because you’re not prepared for that. That’s why we had to adjust in that position with Dominik Szoboszlai, which he has done very, very, very well, except for the moment where we conceded the penalty maybe. But that is one moment in many minutes he’s played there.”
Frustration potentially ahead, then, if nothing is worrying as yet.
