Arne Slot and Liverpool suffered three losses on Tuesday — a Champions League match in Turkiye that featured injuries to Alisson Becker and Hugo Ekitike.
Slot is not expecting the Reds to have Alisson for a looming big Premier League match at the weekend, while he was vague in addressing Ekitike’s injury. Alisson was injured while saving Victor Osimhen’s breakaway and was replaced by Georgi Mamardashvili.
MORE — Galatasaray 1-0 Liverpool recap, video highlights
Slot congratulated Galatasaray for winning a penalty he deemed a bit dubious, and was also bitter with Gala for some other perceived embellishments/time-wasting. Dominik Szoboszlai caught Baris Alper Yilmaz in the face after the latter cut back in the box, and Yilmaz made sure the referee saw the offense.
“They make a 20% penalty a 100% penalty, which is very smart from them,” Slot said.
Here are Slot’s other thoughts after the loss, which followed a weekend loss to Crystal Palace that ruined the Reds’ perfect Premier League start.
Arne Slot reaction — Liverpool boss on Galatasaray loss, Alisson injury
Quotes transcribed by the BBC
“Again, disappointed. For me, this was a different performance on and off the ball. First half we played quite well and had a big chance to go 1-0 up.
“It is difficult to compare this situation to before. We are sometimes a bit out-smarted in situations like this and I cannot blame Dominik Szoboszlai for the situation. They make a 20% penalty a 100% penalty, which is very smart from them.
“We are not so far [from last season]. This is sometimes what the schedule can bring, Galatasaray is not a simple game. We now play Chelsea away, a difficult game.”
“The margins are small and they were last season. For the second time in a row we are on the wrong side.