Liverpool: ‘Not a good thing’ – Problems mount for Arne Slott despite win

This was supposed to be the moment the season finally started for Alexander Isak.

Liverpool’s £125m signing came off the bench and finished brilliantly past Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario to give Arne Slott’s side the lead.

On the touchline, Slott was ecstatic after seeing Isak combine with Florian Wirtz, who earned his first Premier League assist after signing for £116m in the summer.

With Mohamed Salah in Morocco for the Africa Cup of Nations and Cody Jacobo absent due to injury, this was a glimpse into Liverpool’s future. The first sign of a relationship between Liverpool’s two record signings.

But within seconds, that joy turned to worry as Isaac lay on the ground in pain after Micky van de Ven’s intervention. As his teammates gathered around him, it became clear that Isaac would not be able to continue.

“We’ll have to wait and see,” Slott said. He added: “But if a player scores and then gets injured and does not try to return to the field, this is usually not a good thing.”

It looks really ominous.

For Liverpool, who appear to have turned a corner and are now unbeaten in six matches, the problems continue to mount even though Isaac and Connor Bradley face a period of absence.

To briefly sum up their ordeal, Bradley was substituted at half-time after Isak was injured. On the hour mark, Isak came off for Jeremy Frimpong, who was playing his first game since October.

Frimpong then failed to finish the game as he was substituted by Federico Chiesa in the 90th minute, despite Slott insisting that the full-back would be fine and he simply did not want to risk playing for 30 seconds with ten men. In both cases, the two players replaced by Slot failed to finish the game.

In the end, Hugo Ekitiki’s goal ensured Liverpool held on for another crucial win, but they almost blew it away against Tottenham’s nine men, who sent off Xavi Simons and Cristian Romero.

“A masterclass in how not to manage the last 10 minutes,” was the verdict from Jamie Redknapp on Sky Sports. Slott himself admitted that he was far from ideal.

“It’s unbelievable if you play against nine players. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had the ball for eight and a half minutes in the nine minutes of stoppage time. It’s not what you expect and maybe that tells you where we are this season,” Slott told the BBC.

“We need more wins to feel more comfortable with setbacks. The thing that sticks in your mind is the last 10 minutes, but there was a lot to like in the first 80 to 90 minutes.”