Another Alisson Blow As Liverpool Pick Up Slot's Ninth Win

Liverpool fans were not alone in wondering how new gaffer Arne Slot would fare as he looked to replace the outgoing Jurgen Klopp, and it is more than fair to say that the 46 year old Dutchman has surprised plenty at Anfield as well as those neutrals in the wider world of football.

Ten Games In For New Boss

Ten games into his tenure in our dug out the former Feyenoord boss won his opening three games on the spin, before we had a very unfortunate hiccup as we welcomed Nottingham Forest to our home soil, but Slot and his first team charges reacted perfectly, and including the weekend's 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, we have since notched up six straight wins.

As fans will know, that includes early progression in the League Cup, and victories over AC Milan and Bologna in our Champions League campaign and given the level of uncertainty surrounding his appointment, new football betting sites at betinireland.ie, would probably have offered some interesting odds on him racking up this many wins in his opening ten games.

There is no denying it has been a great start from the new man at the helm, but our run of fixtures into the month of December are arguably more difficult on paper now, and the Palace clash has also potentially given us a new headache as we approach those matches as Brazilian international goalkeeper, Alisson Becker, is now set for an undetermined spell on the sidelines having appeared to have picked up a hamstring injury with a little over ten minutes remaining in the game.

Not A Major Problem

Slot has confirmed that the 32 year old was substituted having picked up an issue when making a clearance, but our gaffer remained hopeful that it was not a major problem, and that the experienced player would only be out 'for a couple of weeks'.

It was hardly an ideal development in the game as Republic of Ireland stopper Caoimhin Kelleher was already absent because of illness, but it did give fans an opportunity to get a better short view at third choice Czech goalkeeper Vitezslav Jaros as he came on for his first team debut, and whilst he was not really tested during his minutes on the pitch, the experience will benefit his development and he did the simple things he was tasked with pretty well.

Whilst Slot did question the fixture list and whether the Premier League could show better leeway to clubs in Europe playing in midweek to ensure they then did not feature away in the early Saturday slot, he did also acknowledge that part of it had to rest on his shoulders as ultimately he makes his squad selections, and it is down to him to manage the squad via rotation.

No Precautions Can Stave Off Bad Luck

He also accepted it was just one of those things and at points in a season even the greatest of precautions that can be taken can still fall foul of an element of 'bad luck'.

Whilst we should be able to expect Kelleher to return for the games that Alisson now misses, Slot had plenty of words of praise for Jaros, calling him 'outstanding' and stating that he is desperate to play to build on his double win success last season whilst out on loan. It sounds like he is perfectly content for the 23 year old to now play backup on a more regular basis.

On to Chelsea, and hopefully hamstring issues will not now be a thing after Alisson misses two games last month with a similar issue.

Written by Alan Spencer