Asked whether Liverpool’s influential substitute Federico Chiesa is close to starting contention, Arne Slot seemed to avoid a straight answer on the Italian’s chances.
Chiesa was again pivotal off the bench in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Sunderland, only this time at the other end of the pitch: making a vital block to deny Wilson Isidor from scoring.
That has led to renewed calls for the 28-year-old to start in meaningful games, having yet to do so in either the Premier League or Champions League this season.
But directly asked about Chiesa’s prospects of starting more frequently, Slot instead gave a more general response on his role in the squad.
Video: Arne Slot’s pre-Leeds press conference
“Every player has a possibility to start,” he claimed. “But we have many options to start in his position as I said so many times before.
“But he is indeed having his impact coming off the bench a few times.
“Normally you bring a striker in to score a goal, but he in this situation kept on running in a moment where a player could also feel ‘hmm, I don’t think I can do a lot anymore, because he’s going to go one vs. one’.
“So it tells you also the mentality he has not to concede, and that’s a good thing because that’s what not only defenders should have, that’s also what attackers should have.”
It is a credit to Chiesa that, despite his minimal role and seemingly little chance of changing that, he was the player who chased Isidor over an entire half of the pitch and blocked the shot with Alisson beaten.
That speaks to the mentality of a player who has worked through his fitness issues since joining from Juventus last year and become a reliable option off the bench.
But with Mohamed Salah benched in back-to-back games, neither Alexander Isak or Hugo Ekitike scoring regularly and Slot admitting Cody Gakpo “struggled” against Sunderland, the lack of conviction when it comes to Chiesa is confusing.
How many times has Arne Slot started Federico Chiesa?
Chiesa has started only twice this season, both in the Carabao Cup, while coming off the bench 13 times in league and Europe.
In total since his £12.5 million move from Juventus, he has made the squad 50 times but only started in six of those games.
Of those starts there have been: three in the Carabao Cup, one in the Premier League, one in the Champions League and one in the FA Cup.
Despite his lack of game time, Chiesa has still scored four and assisted five in 29 games for Liverpool, averaging a goal involvement every 94.4 minutes.
