Every word Arne Slot said on huge Alisson injury blow, Alexander Isak return, and Mohamed Salah

Every word Liverpool head coach Arne Slot said on a huge Alisson Becker injury blow, Alexander Isak's return, and Mohamed Salah's exit before the FA Cup trip to Man City

Arne Slot emerges before a Liverpool training session.(Image: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has addressed the media ahead of facing Manchester City in the FA Cup this weekend, with injury updates and an ode to Mohamed Salah high on the agenda.

Alexander Isak could make his return to action at the Etihad Stadium, while both he and Jeremie Frimpong will need to be carefully managed in the next few weeks. This is every word Slot had to say in Kirkby...

Mohamed Salah exit: "(Nothing will change in terms of his mentality because) Mo has always given everything for this club. What has happened since he announced it is what he completely deserves. An unbelievable career at this club, every three days, winning trophies.

"I saw a beautiful picture of him in front of all the trophies he won, so I hope he can add two more before the end of the season. If we have a Mo in the form he has been in for these last few years, that will be a big help for us."

Alexander Isak return: "It will definitely be too fast to expect him in the starting line-up. He trained with us yesterday for the first time and today for the second time after exactly 101 days, I know this because it was told to me.

"So, it will take a bit of time to give him a lot of minutes. We will make sure we do the right thing in terms of building him up in minutes, but it’s a very good thing to have him on the training ground again. It would be even a better thing to have him available for games, that’s for sure.

"You can even be on the bench if you haven’t trained. But the question is: is he ready to play some minutes? That’s another question. It’s a difficult one, because we don’t play a normal game.

Alexander Isak could make his Liverpool return against Manchester City(Image: Getty Images)

"What I mean is, it could go to extra-time, so that makes it even more complicated if you bring him in, if we think he can only play 10 minutes — if we already think this — and you bring him in 10 minutes before the end and then you go to extra-time... of course, you can take him off again if we have enough players available to bring another player in.

"So, yeah, maybe a few minutes but let’s wait and see how it is with him today, how he feels about it himself. It’s clear that after two training sessions, after 100 days, it would not make any sense to start him tomorrow."

Big week ahead: "Unfortunately, the one game play tomorrow was the worst in the sense of our big games. Of course some refereeing decisions in that but they were much better than us [at the Etihad in November].

"We have good players and can play very good football. Every time after a good game, we play 3 days after Real Madrid and that has been the biggest problem this season; so many games, the biggest issue for this team.

"We've shown we have quality players but the amount of games is the biggest issue, so it is interesting to see where we are. We played much better at home and didn't deserve to lose v City, a big referee decision in that one as well, the Guehi tackle on Salah that wasn't a red card, didn't go our way.

Arne Slot (second left) welcomed back Mohamed Salah (left) and Alexander Isak (second right) back to training on Thursday(Image: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

"How do we stop Doku? I did my homework well for this game, Doku... the year before he was even better. Eleven times he dribbled past one of our defenders; the last game was seven or eight. I won't be sure he can't do that again but hopefully we learn from that.

"It's not always about Doku, it is the environment, if it's 1v1 then he is one of the best out there, that is a big quality for a team. That can make a difference against low block defenses, we have to make sure he is not as isolated against our defenders as he was in the last game.

"Sometimes he was not always on 1v1, sometimes he had the full-back to support him. My player, Conor Bradley, had to defend against two players back then."

Alisson Becker setback: "He will not be part of the Paris Saint-Germain games as well. He will be out for a bit longer. Towards the end of the season we expect him to be fit again."

Jeremie Frimpong latest: "He seems to be OK — trained with us yesterday fully and will train with us [today] again. But he was one of the players I referred to about the Brighton game, I think in the second half you could see that he still has a step to make in terms of [playing] every three days.

"And then coming off for the national team. Another interesting and difficult choice to make, how many minutes in which game. Because games come so fast and as we know, we don’t have eight right full-backs available. Interesting challenge but I faced this challenge throughout the whole season almost, so I will find an answer."

Facing Manchester City: "I think we have felt this season multiple times how important it is to get a lead; we have struggled with that. It's much easier than being one or 2-0 up.

"Scoring goals is vital, so I am happy Alex is back. Away game last season, we scored a set-piece, which is so important. We didn't have that at the Etihad last season, they scored, we didn't — had one disallowed.

"First half at Anfield City dominated the ball, how impressive was it that we dominated the ball in the second half? How many teams do that?

"So that was a big step forward but we have to show this as well in their stadium, which is harder than 60,000 at Anfield giving you the energy you need. We have more fans than normal because it is the FA Cup and I wouldn't be surprised if we're louder than them."