Arne Slot claims Liverpool's Caoimhin Kelleher has “one of the toughest jobs in football” as Alisson's understudy.
Finally, Kelleher will be back for Wednesday night's Carabao Cup quarter-final at Southampton, which will be his 13th appearance of the season. Alisson has made just 10 because of hamstring and thigh problems and Kelleher has helped keep Liverpool's quest for Premier League and Champions League glory on track.
Liverpool will finally let Kelleher leave in the summer when Giorgi Marmadashvili comes over from Valencia and Slot hopes that he will have to use the Republic of Ireland number 1 less in the second half of the season. “It's one of the hardest jobs in football when the first goalkeeper is always available, because you work all season, and you almost never get a chance to play because you don't normally come into action 10 or 15 minutes before the end. . said the Reds head coach.
“Unfortunately for us, but good for him, he has already played quite a few minutes. I think if we make a list of players with the number of minutes, there will be players who have much less playing time than him.
“I think he can look back on the first half of the season as a positive first half of the season. We as a club obviously hope that all players are available for the second half of the season, so that he will not play the number of minutes he did in the first half.
“But we are fortunate that we have such a great second goalkeeper that when we need him he can perform as well as he has.”
Slot plans to hand Federico Chiesa a few minutes after the Italy striker returned to the bench for Fulham. Chiesa has only played three games – the last against West Ham in this competition in September – and Slot is keen to take him easy as his injury nightmare at Anfield continues.
“It is certainly a moment when he can make minutes,” said Slot. “The number of minutes is a question mark. You can't expect him to play 90, especially at this level where the intensity is so high, because he's been out for five or six months now.”
Slot wants to give skipper Virgil van Dijk, Ryan Gravenberch and Mohamed Salah a rest, but his defensive options are limited because the suspended Andy Robertson is on the sidelines next to Ibrahima Konate and Conor Bradley. Kostas Tsimikas could figure this out and Slot says he might turn to his children, who played such a key role in Liverpool's eventual victory over Chelsea in February.
“I am aware that we only have four defenders available. Probably those who have started many times will certainly not play 90 minutes, or perhaps not at all,” he said. “It will either be players from the youth academy who will get playing time, or players that no one expects to play.”
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