Arne Slot has hinted that Alisson could be out injured for longer than first expected, saying he expects the Brazilian “to be back before Christmas.”
After Alisson‘s latest hamstring injury, initial reports claimed that Liverpool expected the goalkeeper to be out for about six weeks.
Slot seems to have now suggested that could be longer, though, telling press including the Liverpool Echo: “It feels a long time before Christmas so I expect Ali to be back before Christmas, yeah, but you never know.
“It is always difficult to know how an injury will go in the first stages, so we can answer that question better in two or three weeks’ time because you can always get setbacks.”
These are the fixtures Alisson would miss if he were out just until the next international break:
- Chelsea (H) – PL – Sunday, Oct 20, 4.30pm
- Leipzig (A) – Champions League – Wednesday, Oct 23, 8pm
- Arsenal (A) – PL – Sunday, Oct 27, 4.30pm
- Brighton (A) – League Cup – Oct 30, 7.30pm
- Brighton (H) – PL – Saturday, Nov 2, 3pm
- Bayer Leverkusen (H) – Champions League – Tuesday, Nov 5, 8pm
- Aston Villa (H) – PL – Saturday, Nov 9, 8pm
These are the Reds’ following fixtures that the No. 1 could miss:
- Southampton (A) – PL – Sunday, November 24, 2pm
- Real Madrid (H) – UCL – Wednesday, November 27, 8pm
- Man City (H) – PL – Sunday, December 1, 4pm
- Newcastle (A) – PL – Wednesday, December 4, 7.30pm
- Everton (A) – PL – Saturday, December 7, 12.30pm
- Girona (A) – UCL – Tuesday, December 10, 5.45pm
Arne Slot had similar problems at Feyenoord
While it may be frustrating for fans to know that Alisson could be facing a longer-than-expected spell out, if Liverpool can get him properly ready and look into his problems in that time, it is a price worth paying.
This isn’t the first time Slot has had to deal with a goalkeeper who gets more injuries than normal.
Under Slot at Feyenoord, Justin Bijlow missed around 60 games due to various issues including a wrist fracture and a calf problem.
The head coach referred to this when commenting on Alisson‘s injury absence, saying: “It’s a bit uncommon for goalkeepers.
“[However] for me, it’s common because the goalkeeper I had at Feyenoord (Bijlow) who also had his issues with injuries and also muscle injuries.
“But that’s not what you see a lot, so these two are more an exception.
“We are looking into it, what could be the reason. One of the things we all know is if you had one then the chances of getting another one always go up.
“We’ve tried to be really careful with him.”
