Arne Slot admits he won’t be giving Burnley enough credit if he only describes them as a “defensively solid” side.
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Liverpool make the trip to Turf Moor on Sunday looking to continue their perfect start to the season, having claimed nine points from their opening three games.
While the expectation will be the reigning champions will come out winners, the Clarets have already shown this season – against both Tottenham and Manchester United – that they can more than compete with the league’s biggest and best sides.
Discussing Scott Parker’s side ahead of Sunday’s encounter, Slot said: “They’re defensively solid but I don’t give them enough credit if I only talk about that.
“The first goal they scored against Sunderland was a great team goal, so they’re a good team.
“But like all the others, when I think about all the teams that were relegated last season, we had problems at Ipswich, we had problems at Leicester and we had problems at Southampton. We only won it in the end phase of the game.
“We know that every game is difficult, we only have to look back at last season to understand that.”
Liverpool boss Arne Slot acknowledges the fans following the team's victory over Arsenal prior to the international break (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)placeholder image
Liverpool boss Arne Slot acknowledges the fans following the team's victory over Arsenal prior to the international break (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)
One of the main talking points leading into the game is the availability of Liverpool’s deadline day signing Alexander Isak.
The striker is inevitably short on match fitness following this summer’s protracted transfer saga, where the striker trained away from Newcastle United.
While the 25-year-old did get his first minutes of the season off the bench during Sweden’s 2-0 defeat to Kosovo during the international break, Slot has warned Reds fans to expect Isak to be weaned in gently.
He said: “The Swedish manager Jon Dahl Tomasson deserves a big, big compliment because he gets one of the best, maybe the best striker in the world and they have two very important games, but he understands that if he plays him twice 90 minutes then probably the player would have been injured for multiple weeks.
“That’s not always easy for a manager to take care of the interests of the player, so he deserves a big compliment for that.
“We will treat Alex the same as they did, so don’t expect Alex to play every single game 90 minutes on the pitch. That’s definitely not going to happen over the coming weeks.
“He missed a proper pre-season, he missed three or four months of team sessions, so now we have to build him up gradually even though we play so many games and hardly any training time, so that’s going to be challenging.
“But we have signed him not only for the upcoming two weeks, but we’ve signed him for six years, so this is what we have to keep in mind.”
Slot also confirmed that Curtis Jones will be unavailable after picking up an injury during their win over Arsenal before the international break.
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