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Despite Liverpool's comfortable and ideal 2-0 win over Fulham, manager Arne Slot couldn’t help but point to a little self-pity in his post-match press conference when referencing an injury to midfielder Curtis Jones.
Jones, who was making his first league start in almost two months after finding himself out of favour in recent weeks, went off at half-time. “I would almost say, ‘Welcome to our season’,” said Slot.
“Every time after a win, or after something good happens, there’s always an injury following it up, but it’s a win, and that’s what we should be really happy about.”
he Slot is right on both accounts. Liverpool have had some bad luck with injuries, but injuries happen to every team and bemoaning them fails to recognise that they are something Slot and his staff have influence over, via coaching and fitness methods. The Dutchman is also right that the win, thanks to goals from teenager Rio Ngumoha and veteran Mohamed Salah, is what he and Liverpool should be really happy about.
If they are to have any chance of overturning the 2-0 deficit in the Champions League quarter-final against Paris Saint-Germain this week, this was the ideal game.
Slot was able to rest five key players in his starting XI, meaning Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister, Milos Kerkez and Hugo Ekitike (who didn’t play a minute at Anfield on Saturday) should be fresher when the Parisians arrive on Tuesday night. There was also a rather welcome clean sheet, the first in the league since December and Giorgi Mamardashvili’s first since playing Real Madrid back in November.
For Salah, it was his first league goal since early March, and made it 20 goal contributions for the season, meaning he has achieved that number in all of his nine seasons at the club.
And then there was the electric Ngumoha, writing himself into the Anfield history books by becoming the youngest home league goalscorer on the famous ground. The 17-year-old offered what Cody Gakpo cannot from the left: unpredictability - able to go left or right and beat the defender.
Ngumoha’s goal was superb, jinking left and right before curling into the far post beautifully. It broke Raheem Sterling’s record for the youngest player to score a home league goal for Liverpool, and there are definitely similarities with how Sterling burst onto the scene as a teenager.
The big question, for many, is whether Slot should make what would be a rather brave and bold decision to start Ngumoha against PSG at Anfield on Tuesday night.
"Yeah, I think he’s ready,” offered the head coach when asked directly if that could happen, before downplaying the idea, adding: “Now the question of course is, can he do this two days later again? Would he be able to play and perform at that level?
“Expecting from a 17-year-old that he can play three games in seven days, you could question if that’s realistic, especially for the ones that were there in Paris and saw that intensity.”
The idea of Ngumoha starting seems better in principle, perhaps than reality, and it’s highly likely Slot will go with more experienced players for his attacking options. Ekitike will come back in as the No.9, and Florian Wirtz will be expected to start again - either from the left or in a central role behind the forward.
Salah will surely start, having been controversially unused in the away leg. And Gakpo will be in contention on the left. Many would prefer Slot to go with Wirtz from the left, Dominik Szoboszlai behind Ekitike, and Salah on the right. And that would seem the most logical. It would give good attacking options to change the game, with Ngumoha and Alexander Isak among the subs.
But the importance of Tuesday night to Slot’s future is unclear. All sources from respected Merseyside journalists insist the club will back the 47-year-old beyond this season.
But should Liverpool be further humbled and suffer what would be an 18th defeat in all competitions, the narrative around Slot’s future may change. That said, Saturday’s win over Fulham, coupled with Chelsea’s thrashing at the hands of Manchester City, means Liverpool’s chances of qualifying for next season’s Champions League have vastly improved over the weekend. Now with a four-point lead over the Londoners with six games remaining, it’s Liverpool’s to lose the qualifying position for Europe’s elite competition.
Would a fifth-place finish be enough to keep Slot in his job? Only time will tell.
What's clear is that victory on Tuesday night would certainly aid his chances of furthering his Anfield career. The odds, though, are certainly against progressing past a PSG side that look like one of the strongest teams in Europe since Barcelona’s dominance under Pep Guardiola.
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