The Reds had explored the option of taking Dutch defender Lutsharel Geertruida on loan, which would have required Sunderland to terminate their own agreement and RB Leipzig to sign off on another. No deal was done and Slot is having to make do as Liverpool take in Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League competition.
He has said of managing a pack that needs to be shuffled on a regular basis: “I’m very happy with the squad. Let that be clear. But it’s all clear and obvious that we have three long-term injuries. That’s why we’ve tried to strengthen the squad in the winter break and the player you mentioned [Geertruida], in the end, wasn’t available.
“That we tried to strengthen the squad is clear and that tells you we think that it would have helped us. But we’re not going to sign players that are not good enough to play for this club.
“I think there’s more to come from this group of players than we’ve got out of them until now - for obvious reasons. Some reasons I probably blame myself a little bit but some things I cannot do anything about: injuries, a player’s not ready to play three games a week.
“But if we have an injury crisis, even more than we already have, then that makes things even more difficult. We know what the situation is. This squad is able to do better and more than we’ve done until now, but then they all need to stay available. And that’s going to be a hell of a challenge because we have three games in seven days coming up.”
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