**Arne Slot has slammed Micky van de Ven over Alexander Isak’s injury.**
Isak is facing several months on the sidelines after suffering a fractured leg from the Tottenham defender’s challenge in Liverpool’s win last weekend.
The Sweden international underwent corrective surgery on Monday for the issue sustained in opening the scoring at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Van de Ven’s tackle went unpunished by referee John Brooks, who sent off two other Spurs players in the Premier League champions’ 2-1 victory.
But Slot did not hold back in his view on the Netherlands international’s act which has ruled out the Reds’ record signing out for most of this season.
He said: “It was a reckless challenge.
“I’ve said a lot about the tackle of Xavi Simons, which for me was completely unintentional.
“I don’t think you will ever get an injury out of a tackle like that.
“But the tackle of Van de Ven, if you make a tackle like that 10 times, 10 times there is a serious chance the player gets a serious injury.”
Although Isak is expected to spend a significant period out of action, the Liverpool head coach is confident of him being involved later in the campaign.
“I am confident he can play a part in the season,” added Slot.
“It has been a really challenging and difficult period for him.
“He joined a new club, he was very excited and you want to show immediately all the qualities that you have. But that was simply impossible.
“Maybe no one understands but if you have not trained for three or four months on a serious level with the team and you are playing in this league you need to be on top of your game to impact a game.
“That took, as we all knew, months before we could bring him there because there was no pre-season, just games, games, games and no time to train.
“We always knew it would take him time and that is why he is so unlucky that he is now injured.
“We all saw with his goal at West Ham, with this goal \[against Spurs\], that he got closer and closer to the player he was last season at Newcastle.”