FPL notes: Slot on Isak absence + why Kerkez was subbed off

A Mohamed Salah (£14.5m) penalty deep into injury time ensured that Liverpool maintained their perfect start to the season at Turf Moor.

Our Scout Notes reflect on the action.

READ MORE: FPL notes: Wissa + Strand Larsen injury latest, Woltemade goal

READ MORE: FPL notes: Maresca on Palmer’s fitness, Pedro + Guiu’s absence

LATE SALAH PEN

Liverpool left it very late but got the job done at Turf Moor, with Salah’s penalty in injury time securing a narrow victory.

Prior to that, it wasn’t the best afternoon for any of Liverpool’s attackers, as they struggled to break down Burnley’s deep defence.

Salah was notably subdued, registering no open play shots and creating just one chance.

The Reds got out of jail once again, however, when Jeremie Frimpong’s (£5.9m) cross was handled by substitute Hannibal Mejbri (£5.0m).

Cody Gakpo (£7.7m), meanwhile, seemed to be the most likely player from Liverpool to make the breakthrough. The Dutchman took five shots in total, with his corner deliveries from the left contributing further to his threat.

Above: Liverpool players sorted by shots taken (Tot) v Burnley

As for Florian Wirtz (£8.4m), he improved in the second half, sending one shot wide of the post just before the hour mark.

However, neither he nor Hugo Ekitike (£8.8m), who was substituted off in the 71st minute, found it easy against Burnley’s three centre-backs.

SLOT EXPLAINS ISAK PLAN

After a quiet international break with his country, during which he was limited to just 18 minutes of football, Alexander Isak (£10.4m) was not involved at all on Sunday.

Arne Slot later explained his decision, saying the Swede will feature in some capacity against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday.

“We got him from Newcastle in a state where you could say his pre-season is going to start now, so then he needs proper minutes of training before he has a certain base, let alone for him to play twice in three days. So, that’s what we do, what we try to prepare players for in the beginning of the season is [to play] once a week and then we try to do more and more and more for a minimum of two games a week so they are ready for that schedule.

“Now, Alex is far from ready for that schedule of three games in a week, 90 minutes. But then we could use him today for five minutes and then Wednesday again 10, and then 15, but we don’t believe that is the way to build him up. We believe it’s the way… Sweden did the right thing of giving him good sessions without playing him a lot because if you play the player you cannot give him good sessions. They did the right thing [and] we did the same, so now he will be able either Wednesday or Saturday to play 45 as a minimum, and maybe a little bit more. But if he plays 45 on Wednesday don’t expect him to play 45 or more on Saturday because his body is not prepared for that, in our opinion.” – Arne Slot on Alexander Isak

WHY KERKEZ + MAC ALLISTER WERE SUBBED OFF

There were early exits for both Milos Kerkez (£6.0m) and Alexis Mac Allister (£6.4m) at Turf Moor.

Slot sent on Andrew Robertson (£5.9m) on 37 minutes, after Kerkez had picked up a yellow card for diving.

The left-back, who hasn’t made a wholly convincing start to his Liverpool career, committed another foul shortly after, which led to him being replaced.

“It was because he got a yellow card. With Milos I can never be 100% sure he doesn’t make the next foul, then the fans are on top of the referee. I thought the only way we could lose it today was if we went down to 10 men.” – Arne Slot on Milos Kerkez

Robertson impressed after coming on, creating five chances for his teammates.

Mac Allister, meanwhile, was taken off at half-time and replaced by Conor Bradley (£5.0m), a substitution which pushed Dominik Szoboszlai (£6.5m) back into central midfield.

But Slot allayed fears of an injury to Mac Allister in his post-match presser:

“It is similar to Alex [Isak] but in a completely different way. He missed a lot of pre-season, so he is ready for one game a week, maybe [for] 70 to 90. He played 90 for Argentina and he was really tired after 70. He doesn’t have the right build-up towards playing three games a week for 90 minutes, so it was always sure today that I would take him off for him to be able to be back on the pitch again on Wednesday and for him to be on Saturday back on the pitch again.” – Arne Slot on Alexis Mac Allister

“SPIRITED” BURNLEY

Burnley made life particularly difficult for Liverpool, with their hard work harshly undone late on.

By that point, they had been reduced to 10 men after Lesley Ugochukwu (£5.0m) was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Wirtz.

Nonetheless, Scott Parker can take huge encouragement from his side’s performance, having reverted to a more conservative 5-4-1 formation on Sunday.

Indeed, three of Burnley’s back five – Hjalmar Ekdal (£4.0m), Maxime Esteve (£4.0m), and Quilindschy Hartman (£4.0m) – all picked up defensive contribution (DefCon) points:

“You open the pitch up to this team, and they’re probably one of the best in the world in terms of exploiting that. We were never going to give them that space. We needed to deny space, and it was critical for us. We did deny them space, and we defended very, very well.

“We’re trying to get a result, and we’re trying to survive. My team today, they epitomise spirit. They epitomise every bit of what I asked of them and that’s exactly what I try and ingrain in these players every single day.” – Scott Parker

Click here to read article