Arne Slot has warned Liverpool fans not to 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 after spending the last three months on the sidelines with various injury problems.
It was a mixed performance from Chiesa, but Slot insisted that is to be expected from a player who is still getting back up to speed.
“I don't know if we saw it the same way, but I think what I saw is what you would expect,” Slott said. “If a player is out for five or six months, you can't wait (long).
“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.' his first game in five or six months.
“I've said it before that it makes it very difficult for me because normally in the preparation phase a player gets three, four or five games in particular and then he's only out for four or five weeks. Instead, he was out for so long. so getting him back to his best is not easy, but it was good to see that he showed some quality already today.
“But for him it's the same 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 had some good moments in the game.”
Chiesa's next chance to impress may be coming LiverpoolFacing Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday – a game of their own controversially lost last season after Luis Diaz's goal was wrongly ruled offside.