Arne Slot makes Florian Wirtz fitness admission as Liverpool must avoid 'even bigger problem'

Florian Wirtz has looked better generally in the last few weeks, but Liverpool head coach Arne Slot says he missed training ahead of facing Leeds and his fitness needs managing

Florian Wirtz during the Premier League game between Liverpool and Leeds(Image: Jan Kruger/Getty Images)

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot says Florian Wirtz missed training ahead of the visit of Leeds in the Premier League, with the Reds needing to carefully manage his minutes.

The 0-0 draw with Leeds was the first goalless stalemate that Liverpool has had since Slot arrived 18 months ago, with Wirtz struggling to make much of an impact on a difficult outing for the Reds.

Kicking off January with several injury concerns and eight more fixtures to play this month, though, Slot is having to carefully manage his players ahead of a busy period, with Wirtz among those to be carrying a concern.

"It's a lot to ask for the players who were fit," Slot told LFCTV. "As you could see today, four players with hardly any playing minutes in the Premier League were on the bench.

"Florian only trained once this week because two days after the game, he felt his hamstring still a bit. You try to be as careful as you can without ruining your chances of winning the game as much as you can.

"With the schedule coming up, missing out on another one would be an even bigger problem if that's going to take five, six or seven weeks or longer.

Florian Wirtz failed to lead Liverpool to victory on New Year's Day(Image: Jan Kruger/Getty Images)

"The good thing was Cody Gakpo was back after an injury so I could still make a few substitutions still. These players have to do it in the upcoming weeks or months because apart from Joe Gomez, I don't see a player coming back soon."

Wirtz was withdrawn early in the second half with his influence on proceedings limited. Gakpo replaced him on the left flank, but the Dutchman failed to find the breakthrough either.

Late in the game, Slot turned to 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha, who offered some more pace and the ability to beat his man. Asking such a young player to feature for more than a cameo, however, would put lots of pressure on his shoulders.

While Liverpool created very little, Slot felt that his team should have had a penalty in the first half when Hugo Ekitike was pulled back, but the Frenchman didn't go to ground.

"When he would have fallen down, that would probably be a penalty," Slot said. "But I can understand why he doesn't go down, because this season so many times when we were fouled inside the 18-yard box, we didn't get a penalty.

"So maybe as a result of that, players from us think, 'Yeah, let's then try to stay on our feet.' Because we've conceded a few where there was hardly any contact: Brentford away, Crystal Palace in the Community Shield.

"I can go on and on and on with soft penalties we've conceded this season. But when fouls were being made on us — Brentford away, Cody Gakpo, the referee said play on — maybe as a result of that, our players try to do everything to stay on their feet.

"Then it's hard for a VAR to interfere or a referee to give a penalty if you stay on your feet."