A “brilliant” Liverpool player is out of his side’s trip to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League.
The Reds make the trip to the Bundesliga side on Wednesday evening, knowing how important a return to winning ways is.
Not only do Liverpool have to stop the rot, following four defeats in a row in all competitions, but victory is also paramount when it comes to reaching the knockout stages of the Champions League.
The Premier League champions aren’t without injury concerns currently, with Alisson missing in goal, while Ryan Gravenberch limped out on Sunday’s 2-1 loss at home to Manchester United.
On Tuesday, Sky Sports reported that the Dutchman missed training with his Liverpool teammates before the Frankfurt game, and now Arne Slot has confirmed he is out:
“Yeah, I had to take him off during the weekend because he limped a little bit, as we could all see. So, unfortunately, he’s not ready to play tomorrow.
“That already means I definitely have to change one player and with him not being there, that might mean something for others as well, because he has such a particular quality in our squad, which we’ve seen when we played Bournemouth for example, when we played the Community Shield – that we missed a little bit of a player that was always protecting our back four.
“Ryan is not available for the Frankfurt game, hopefully he will be available at the weekend. But it’s an ankle injury, we have to wait and see, give him a bit of time and see where he is when we come back from Frankfurt.”
Gravenberch a potential huge loss for Liverpool
Many Liverpool players have underperformed this season, from Ibrahima Konate to Mohamed Salah, but Gravenberch has been one of the few bright sparks alongside Dominik Szoboszlai, playing close to last season’s level.
For that reason, having to make do without him on Wednesday evening is a big blow, especially with Alexis Mac Allister struggling badly for form.
Hopefully, Gravenberch overcomes his ankle issue in time for the trip to Brentford on Saturday, but he must be handled with care, having been hailed by former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy earlier this year:
“Ryan Gravenberch, the holding midfielder, plays the ball and then he just continues his run because [Everton] switch off and there’s that big gap again. When you’re playing against players of such quality, they’re gonna rotate positions… [Gravenberch is] bright, he’s brilliant, by the way, he’s been terrific in the last three games.|
With Gravenberch out, it will surely pave the way for Curtis Jones to start, following a promising cameo against United, and Slot must also consider bringing Florian Wirtz into the starting lineup, as well as Andy Robertson, Federico Chiesa and Hugo Ekitike.
Five losses in succession don’t even bear thinking about for Slot, with defeat in Germany heaping genuine pressure on the Reds’ head coach.
