“I saw” – Arne Slot Gives Honest Verdict on Federico Chiesa’s Performance Against Liverpool

Federico Chiesa marked his return from injury during Liverpool’s 2-1 victory over Southampton.

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot described Federico Chiesa’s comeback performance as a blend of positives and challenges.

The Reds progressed to the Carabao Cup semi-finals with a 2-1 win at St Mary’s. Despite significant rotation in the starting lineup, including the absence of key players such as Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk, and Ryan Gravenberch, Liverpool controlled the first half. Goals from Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott secured a 2-0 advantage by halftime.

Chiesa, making his first appearance since late September, was introduced in the second half. The £10 million summer signing from Juventus found it difficult to influence the game.

Southampton reduced Liverpool’s lead when Cameron Archer scored in the 60th minute. Chiesa then missed a chance to restore the two-goal margin and saw another attempt, bound for the far corner, cleared off the line.

After being sidelined at Juventus during pre-season, Liverpool are adopting a cautious approach to Chiesa’s integration. Slot acknowledged some encouraging moments from the Italy international but emphasised that there is still significant room for improvement.

The Anfield head coach said: “I don’t know if we saw it the same, but I think what I saw is what you can expect. If a player is out for five or six months you cannot expect [too much]. I saw ups and downs.

“I saw some really good moments and I saw some moments where I felt like, ‘OK, you can do better than this.’ For me, that’s completely normal if a player has been out for so long and plays his first game in five or six months.

“I already said before that it makes it so difficult for me because normally in the pre-season a player gets three, four, or five games especially and then he’s only out for four or five weeks.

“Instead, he was out for so long, so to get him back to him best level is not easy, but it was good to see that he showed some quality already today.

“But it’s the same for him like the youngsters, it’s not enough to play at this level, you have to compete with Mo Salah, Cody Gakpo, Lucho, Darwin and Diogo. But it’s good to see that he’s back and that he had a few good moments in the game.

In other news, Liverpool Sent Blunt Darwin Nunez Advice as Audacious Transfer Move for Premier League Star Backed