Arne Slot insists Federico Chiesa must “do better” if he wants regular game time for Liverpool, claiming his promising cameo against Southampton in the Carabao Cup was “not enough”.
Liverpool booked their place in the semi-finals with a 2-1 win over the Saints on Wednesday, with first-half goals from Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott enough to see Slot’s side through.
Slot made eight changed to his starting XI from the side that drew 2-2 with Fulham, with academy graduates Trey Nyoni and Tyler Morton given a chance to impress.
Chiesa was also handed an opportunity, replacing Trent Alexander-Arnold at half time, and produced a display which somehow proved he’s both a massive flop and a world class talent, depending which particular social media rabbit hole you fall into.
The Italy international had featured for just 78 minutes this season before coming off the bench against the Saints, with injury hampering his debut season at Anfield following his move from Juventus in the summer.
Slot was eager to point out after the game – in which Chiesa had some good moments and some less than good moments – that the fans are bound to see “ups and downs” from a footballer who’s been out for so long.
Slot said via HaytersTV: “I don’t know if we saw the same but I saw is what you can expect. If a player is out for five or six months, you cannot expect… I saw ups and downs.
“There were some really good moments and there were some moments where I felt, okay, you can do better than this.
“For me, that’s completely normal if a player’s been out for so long and plays his first game in five, six months. And I already said before, that makes it so difficult for me because normally in the pre-season, a player gets three, four or five games especially and then he’s only out for four or five weeks.”
