After Federico Chiesa made his first appearance for nearly three months, coming on in Liverpool’s 2-1 win over Southampton, Arne Slot assessed the player’s performance.
After a long injury lay-off, meaning he hadn’t featured since September 25, Chiesa finally returned to action as he played the second half at St Mary’s.
While the Italian didn’t light up the rainy Southampton night, he was unfortunate not to score and showed glimpses of the technical quality we have seen in the past.
Following the game, Slot was asked when we could expect to see the 27-year-old at his best.
“I think what I saw is what you can expect,” the coach responded.
“If a player is out for five or six months, you cannot expect [him to be at his best straight away.]
“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’s been out for so long, plays his first game in five or six months probably (three months).”
Slot went on to explain how it can be “difficult” for a player like Chiesa to return to full sharpness during a competitive campaign.
The Dutchman said: “I already said before that that makes it also so difficult for me because normally in a pre-season a player gets three, four or five games, especially.
“And then he’s only had four or five weeks now he’s out for so long, so to get him back to his best level is not easy but it was good to see that he showed some quality already today.
“But 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 he also had a few good moments in the game.”
One of these “good moments” came in the 72nd minute, as he took down a high clearance from Tyler Morton superbly, controlling the ball accurately as it came over his shoulder and threatened to go out of play.
Immediately after, he turned and proceeded to nutmeg the onrushing Southampton man to get himself out of trouble, a moment even some Saints fans applauded.
The No. 14 could have then scored, too, only to be denied twice by heroic blocks from Taylor Harwood-Bellis in his own six-yard box.
As Slot says, there is plenty to improve on, but the early signs are positive for Chiesa. His biggest obstacle to game time this season will be fitness.
Southampton 1-2 Liverpool
