Arne Slot has warned Liverpool fans that they should not expect to see the best of winger Federico Chiesa so soon after his return from injury.
Summer signing Chiesa came off the bench Wednesday’s 2-1 win over Southampton to make just his fourth appearance of the season, having spent the past three months sidelined with various injury problems.
It was a mixed performance from Chiesa, but Slot insisted that was to be expected from a player who continues to get up to speed.
“I don’t know if we saw it the same, but I think what I saw is what you can expect,” Slot said. “If a player is out for five or six months, you can’t expect (too much).
“I’ve seen ups and downs. I’ve seen some really good moments and I’ve seen some moments where I felt, ‘OK, you can do better than this.’ six months.
“I already said before that it makes me so difficult because usually in pre-season a player gets three, four or five games in particular and then he’s out for four or five weeks. So it’s not easy to get him back to his best, but it was good that we saw that he showed some quality already today.
“But it’s the same for him as the youngsters, it’s not enough to play at this level, you have to compete with Mo Salah, Cody Gakpo, Lucho (Luis Diaz), Darwin (Nunez) and Diogo (Jota) . But it’s good to see that he’s back and that he’s had some good moments in the game.”
Chiesa’s next chance to impress may be coming LiverpoolThe clash with Tottenham on Sunday – a game they have controversially lost last season after Luis Diaz’s goal was wrongly ruled offside.
