Liverpool’s newest recruit Jeremy Jacquet has been hit with a shoulder injury, and Arne Slot can’t believe his luck.
There is a long enough injury list at Liverpool right now — even a player who is yet to arrive at Anfield hasn’t escaped the poor fortune.
Jacquet might need surgery after picking up a serious shoulder injury, which could spell the end of his final season at Rennes.
Ahead of Liverpool’s trip to Sunderland, Slot was asked about the luck that hasn’t been falling their way this season.
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Cody Gakpo pictured in action during Liverpool's Premier League match against Leeds United at Elland Road.
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Arne Slot laments Liverpool misfortune after Jeremy Jacquet injury
The news from France regarding Jacquet’s potential need for surgery shouldn’t come as a surprise to Liverpool fans.
Anything that could go wrong with our defenders, has this season.
In his pre-Sunderland press conference, Slot was asked about this trend, and the overarching lack of good fortune going the way of the Reds.
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He responded: “It feels like that. That’s for sure. I said, even if we sign a player [Jacquet] and he’s not even playing for us, he gets injured. So yeah, sometimes it feels like that, but the moment you start to feel it’s all bad luck, probably it comes to you as well.”
Jeremy Jacquet pictured in action for Rennes during their Ligue 1 match against Monaco
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The Dutchman likely couldn’t believe what he was hearing about his newest signing, but it supports his narrative about his sides luck.
He concludes: “It feels now I can fairly say that we haven’t been lucky. That is definitely true. Is it then unlucky or is this part of who we are? Yeah, that is something we can only find out in the upcoming uh three to four months.”
No one is going to claim that Liverpool have had everything go their way, but there is an argument that poor decisions can create bad luck. Better not to put the team’s struggles down to misfortune — rather, look for ways to turn it around.
Slot thinks Liverpool’s fitness has improved
It has felt like many of last season’s most reliable physical presences don’t have the same engine in this campaign.
That could the lethargic nature of Liverpool’s performances slowing players down, the different system, or it could be a conditioning problem.
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Roy Hodgson and Arne Slot records at Liverpool
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Whatever the case, Slot is confident that progress has been made in that regard.
He tells the media: “I think one other main thing has been that it has took us a while before everyone was ready to play every 3 days at Premier League and Champions League level.
“But for me, we’ve reached that point now, because if I compare our game against City three or four months ago where we wanted to press them in the first half aggressive as well, we hardly touched the ball.
“So the game two days ago was so much different that I think that shows how many steps we’ve made.”
The first half against City mightn’t be the best example to prove this point, but Slot and the performance team have copious amounts of data with which to confidently make this claim.
It would want to be reflected in performances going forward, starting with Sunderland.
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