On the latest injury update in his squad…
Robbo [Andy Robertson] didn’t train [on Thursday] for private reasons, but he will be with us today. Alisson [Becker] trained last week and this week so he will be able to play tomorrow if things work out well today again.
But we do have some issues after the international break unfortunately. Conor Bradley is unable to play [and] Florian Wirtz is unable to play. That’s far from ideal.
On whether Alisson will start in goal this weekend…
If he’s ready to play, he will start.
On the fixture schedule, fitness of new signings and alternating his squad…
A variation of form is not only with new signings. That’s also with the new players we have. That’s always in a season that it’s not always the same, you’re not always in the same form. The biggest issue we’ve faced until now, and [are] still facing, is the match fitness of the players and the time they’ve missed in pre-season. Alex [Isak], now we were hoping [for] him to play a little bit more for the Swedish national team.
Unfortunately, he was one yellow away from being suspended so for obvious reasons they didn’t play him the second time. But for us it would’ve been better if he had some minutes in the second game. I just told you about Conor and Florian. Jeremie [Frimpong] is out and Giovanni [Leoni] so we have at this moment in time five natural defenders – five players who have always played as a defender – available for seven games in 22 days and I don’t see anyone coming back before that.
That is something we almost… I wouldn’t say expected, but we knew that it was hard when you bring players in a little bit later into the season. It’s harder to keep them fit and there’s more emphasis on the ones that have to play a little bit more in terms of what you ask from them. That was one of the reasons why I played the team I played against [Crystal] Palace in the League Cup.
On what injuries Bradley and Wirtz have sustained…
Both muscle issues.
On how long the pair will be sidelined…
I don’t expect Conor to be part of the upcoming 22 days. Maybe in the end, but not in the [next] 22 days unless something like a miracle happens, which I don’t expect. Florian should be able to play after [Forest], it depends on what happens after, but that shouldn’t be that long. Jeremie is out just as long. He’s not probably going to be available in the upcoming two or three weeks as well. It’s going to be interesting who all of you want to see as a right full-back.
On Dominik Szoboszlai as a right-back option and Joe Gomez’s fitness…
He [Szoboszlai] is doing so well in every position. That’s true. He’s played really well as a full-back and played really well as a midfielder. Curtis Jones played there last season. Joe Gomez can play there but Joe Gomez has played, I think if I’m correct, two times 90 minutes throughout the whole 2025 year. So, if we want to keep him available longer it’s maybe a bit of a risk to play him seven times in 22 days. He missed out on a training session yesterday by the way as well but we are expecting him to train today. [It’s] challenging but the good thing is we have still enough good players available and maybe one of them or two of them have to play in positions they usually don’t do. That’s what we have to accept.
