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Arne Slot praised Federico Chiesa after his excellent display against Southampton in the Carabao Cup, describing the Italian as the player who was the “most involved in the game”.
Chiesa started in a team that included 11 changes from the weekend's win over Everton. Unsurprisingly, Liverpool's performance was disjointed, lacked tempo and was sloppy at times.
But it still managed to secure passage to the fourth round of the Carabao Cup courtesy of a 2-1 victory at Anfield. Alexander Isak grabbed his maiden Liverpool goal in the latter stages of the first half, but the Reds failed to press home their advantage, and Shea Charles grabbed an equalizer in the 76th minute.
Hugo Ekitike continued Liverpool’s record of scoring late winners but was then dismissed for his celebrations. Chiesa set up both his and Isak’s goals on a night when he created four chances, had four shots, and had 13 touches in the opposition box - more than any other player.
It was the perfect response from Chiesa after a disappointing start to the new season in which he not selected in Liverpool’s Champions League squad.
Asked for his verdict on Cheisa’s display, Slot gave a glowing response.
“I can accept completely that a team that plays for the first time together, players that haven’t played for a long time, that they don’t play as a team perfectly.
“But what I always want to see is players that try and work hard. So I said at half-time, for me it is completely not a coincidence that Federico picked the ball and assisted on the first [goal] because he was the one, in my opinion, that was most involved in the game, tried the most, worked the hardest.
“And then it wasn’t a coincidence again that he was the man that made a deep run, great ball by Robbo [Andy Robertson], by the way – who also has won so much at this club and also understands how to play this game: not underestimate it, just always be ready to play.
“That’s also the way to get yourself either back in the team or get as much playing minutes as you want.
“That’s why I was happy with a few individual performances but far from happy with a few other individual performances.”
Asked which players he was not impressed with, Slot replied: “No. But I think these players who I mean, I think they know already.”
Slot was also critical of Ekitike and labelled his red card as “needless” and “stupid”.
Liverpool’s 2-1 win means it has secured passage to the last 16 of the Carabao Cup and will learn its next opponents after the final third-round fixtures on Wednesday.
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