Liverpool's injury problems deepened after a 3-2 Champions League defeat at Fenerbahce on Wednesday, with several key players facing extended spells on the sidelines. The loss, which was Andoni Iraola's first European defeat of his tenure, came at the Chobani Stadium against a side managed by former Liverpool legend Dirk Kuyt.
Mason Greenwood, Archie Brown and Vedat Muriqi scored for the hosts, while Trey Nyoni and Alexander Isak were on target for the visitors. Iraola now faces an anxious wait over the fitness of a number of squad members.
Gravenberch and Frimpong sidelined
Dutch midfielder Ryan Gravenberch missed the trip to Turkey due to a fracture in his heel. Iraola provided an update ahead of the match, describing it as a day-to-day situation. "It's a fracture of the heel. It's about the pain. He has been with some discomfort," he said.
"The other day against Arsenal he was warming up and he was not fully confident. He hasn't improved since then. But it's going to be something that every day we ask him, every day we see how he is. If he can be available for the weekend, lovely, he would be a very good help for us. But I cannot tell you right now."
Jeremie Frimpong, meanwhile, picked up a muscle injury against Brentford last month, another lay-off for the full-back since his arrival from Bayer Leverkusen. He is not expected back until after the upcoming international break, meaning he will have missed six consecutive matches. Iraola said: "Jeremie Frimpong is obviously a new muscle injury and it happened, I think, in the second or third minute he was playing, difficult to predict and we will have to wait until he recovers. But it's going to be difficult, I think, before the [November international] break. We will try but it's going to be difficult to have him."
Long-term absentees: Leoni, Ekitike, Bradley
Giovanni Leoni, who signed from Parma last summer for around £26million, has been limited to one senior appearance due to a serious knee injury. He made his debut in the Carabao Cup against Southampton in September but was stretchered off and later confirmed to have suffered an anterior cruciate ligament tear. Iraola said: "It's taking more time than we wanted. The planning was to train with the team in this past international break [but] probably it's going to be in the next international break, so we've lost one month in the process. Giovanni's injury, I wasn't here but talking to the medical department, it was not just an ACL – it was a bad injury, a lot of things around the knee were involved apart from the ACL."
Hugo Ekitike has not played since rupturing his Achilles against Paris Saint-Germain in April. He was included in Iraola's squad for the Champions League league phase, with hopes he could return for the final two games in January against Inter Milan and Lens. The striker is thought to be targeting a comeback before the turn of the year.
Conor Bradley, who suffered bone and ligament damage in a serious knee injury at Arsenal in January, is nearing a return to training. Iraola said: "[He is] doing very well. I think [he is] in a good place. Conor is not so far from training with the group – not like full training but doing some things with the group. I think Conor is not very far from starting doing things with us." He could rejoin team training during the November international break.
