Dominik Szoboszlai was sent off in the 1-2 loss to Manchester City on Sunday at Anfield, while injuries have left Reds scrambling ahead of Sunderland trip
Liverpool’s growing list of defensive absences has left Arne Slot facing a fresh headache, with the club’s right-back situation stretched following the red card shown to Dominik Szoboszlai against Manchester City that now rules him out of the upcoming match versus Sunderland through suspension.
Sunday’s defeat at Anfield was already challenging enough for the Reds, but the aftermath has proved just as damaging.
With Conor Bradley, Jeremie Frimpong and Joe Gomez all unavailable through injury, Slot once again turned to Szoboszlai as an emergency option on the right side of defence.
Szoboszlai delivered a moment of brilliance midway through the second half, firing in a spectacular free kick from distance to put Liverpool ahead, but was sent off late in stoppage time.
Asked whether Frimpong or Gomez could return for Wednesday’s game against Sunderland, the Liverpool coach offered a frank assessment.
“Jeremie, for sure not. We knew this when he got injured, that it was a few weeks. To be honest, I don’t expect Joe to be back as well, but you never know,” Slot said.
“He is back after being out for three weeks – would you play him then? You say no, but you don’t have to make the decision. I have to make the decision. Let’s see what decision we make.
“We have other players that can play that position as well. Dom again played a very good game in that position but unfortunately he is unavailable for Wednesday.”
😯 Marcel Desailly on the defensive side, Laurent Blanc on the attacking side, and faster than Van Dijk.
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Liverpool facing January transfer target
With European qualification still a central objective, Liverpool explored the market for cover before the transfer deadline but ultimately failed in their main target
As fate would have it, one of Slot’s top choices was Sunderland loanee Lutsharel Geertruida, who he will likely now face on Wednesday amid his right-back crisis. The RB Leipzig defender is someone Slot knows well from their time together at Feyenoord, where Geertruida served as captain under the current Liverpool manager.
As discussions progressed, however, the circumstances required to complete the move failed to align.
Slot acknowledged that attempts had been made to add depth, while stressing the importance of balance in recruitment.
“I’m very happy with the squad. Let that be clear,” Slot said. “But it’s all clear and obvious that we have three long-term injuries. That’s why we’ve tried to strengthen the squad in the winter break and the player you mentioned [Geertruida], in the end, wasn’t available.
“That we tried to strengthen the squad is clear and that tells you we think that it would have helped us. But we’re not going to sign players that are not good enough to play for this club.
“I think there’s more to come from this group of players than we’ve got out of them until now – for obvious reasons. Some reasons I probably blame myself a little bit but some things I cannot do anything about: injuries, a player’s not ready to play three games a week.
“But if we have an injury crisis, even more than we already have, then that makes things even more difficult. We know what the situation is. This squad is able to do better and more than we’ve done until now, but then they all need to stay available.”
Following Szoboszlai’s sending off, Slot will be asked to make a call on which player will feature at right-back against Sunderland, with midfielder Curtis Jones being an option to fill in out of position.