Every word Arne Slot said on Alexander Isak's start, Konate injury and Liverpool vs Man Utd

Liverpool is back in action this weekend following the international break, and games don't come much bigger as the Reds face Manchester United at Anfield.

Both sides have a point to prove, with the hosts looking to end a run of three consecutive defeats that has seen them fall behind Arsenal in the Premier League title race, while Ruben Amorim will be hoping to ease some of the pressure on him at Old Trafford.

Arne Slot is still looking for his team to find their feet this season, with the Reds having shown little rhythm even before their recent slump in form. He has at least been handed some good news on the injury front, which he will hope can help his side return to winning ways against United.

Ahead of that game, Slot spoke to the media at his pre-match press conference on Friday. Here's what the Liverpool boss had to say before facing United...

Injury latest

"Ryan [Gravenberch] is completely fit, although we still have to train twice. But if you ask me now, he is completely fit. We are in a good place with the Dutch national team if Ronald Koeman can make a decision either to play Tijjani Reijnders or Ryan Gravenberch, so he played them both 45 minutes.

"Ibou [Konate] has come back to us, started his sessions again and is expected to train with us today. The third one is Alisson, he's not training with us, so he's out.

“Like I always say, it’s so difficult to say because the end phase of rehab can always give you positives or negatives, but he will not play on the weekend and also not next week.”

What his players need to improve

"I think what we can say if we compare ourselves to last season, we don't create as many chances as we did in the start of last season. But we are still the team that from open play creates the most xG chances, most shots on target.

"But we've conceded too many goals, that's for sure, and we've conceded nine, where four of them are from set-pieces. That was and still is, by the way, a strength of us, which sounds weird if you concede four, but that's not a reflection of the chances we've conceded in terms of set-pieces. The other five were two fast breaks and three from open play.

"I think in open play we are conceding too many crosses, so that is one of the things what we have to address and what we have to do better. Like Virgil [van Dijk] says, I think he means that teams are facing us differently than the first half of last season – but that is also what I've said.

"The amount of long balls that we are facing now compared to last season, I think we're already one-third on the way in the amount of long balls we have to defend compared to last season after seven games already. So, we have to find answers to that and the first answer is not to concede so many goals. Because if it's harder to score your goals, the best thing you can do is make it harder for teams to score against you as well."

Responding to three straight defeats

"I think it should not matter who you are playing on Sunday or Saturday, but we play on Sunday. If you've lost three games in a row and you wear the Liverpool shirt, it doesn't matter who your opponent is, you have to react.

"If there's one thing I cannot blame the players [for], they give everything they have every single game. They go all in from the first until the last minute – this is what we did in the last three games as well.

"In all three games we had to come back from being 1-0 down and in two games we managed to do so, but unfortunately lost in the end where we were having chances in both games maybe more than our opponent to win it.

"But if you've lost three in a row, it doesn't matter if Man United is coming or Brentford next week, there should always be a reaction – not only from Mo [Salah] but from all the players."

Facing Man Utd

"I look forward to every single Premier League game but maybe even more towards the United one, because I know how special it is and I've experienced last season how special a game it is.

"We know that it's probably the game that's been watched the most all over the world. It's special to be part of it but in the end it's also a game where we have to be at our best, because United, in my opinion, has had a better start to the season than maybe the league table is showing.

"A very interesting game and a game to look forward to, especially because it's played at Anfield. I think our fans have been so supportive for us as long as I'm here and long before I was here. I think they understand that the team that has lost three times in a row, they need to be ready, our team, but I think our fans can help us and will help us on Sunday as well."

Alexander Isak's fitness

"I think that's what we did [build him up] and now he's had his five, six weeks of pre-season, which is normal for every player – especially if you've been out for three or four months.

"Fitness-wise, I think he's now close to the level he should be and now I think we can judge him in a fair way from now on. I know how this industry works, if he plays there twice [with Sweden] and doesn't score then that's not what you're hoping for.

"Of course you're hoping if they go to the national team that they score – like Cody [Gakpo] did, like Virgil did, like Dominik [Szoboszlai] did, like [Alexis] Mac Allister did, do I forget a few? – but he didn't. But I think his pre-season maybe finished now he's played a few games, 70, 80, 90 minutes. So, let's see where he is in the upcoming weeks."

On Mac Allister

"One thing is clear and that's what was in your question, unfortunately he went out immediately after we won the league and we were expecting him to be back from the start of pre-season, which he wasn't.

"That led to the fact he wasn't able to play three times in a row, so he went in, out, in, out, 60 minutes, 45 minutes. That's never an ideal scenario for a player. But like all the others, he's a player that has experienced so many things in his career already that he will be back at the level he wants and the level I want from him."

On Marc Cucurella's comments

“In this particular case, I heard the comments from Cucurella, I also saw how they scored the 2-1, but I could also show you five or six moments where Mo could have made the difference for us, and if that would have happened, we would have had the conversation like last season where he made the difference for us so many times,” Slot said.

“If that doesn’t happen, then you get probably comments like this. It’s always the balance between winger and fullbacks.

“I want our fullbacks to attack as well, so we have to find the right balance in that, but I said at the start that we are conceding too many crosses compared to last season, and this is something I’m aware of, and we have to do better.”