Dominik Szoboszlai remains an injury doubt for Liverpool's Premier League clash with Brentford on Saturday. The Hungarian midfielder started Liverpool's first five league games but missed last Sunday's 3-0 defeat to Manchester City at Anfield with a hamstring problem. He also sat out the midweek Champions League victory against LASK.
Several key players missing
Szoboszlai is one of several key players unavailable for Andoni Iraola, alongside attacking duo Cody Gakpo and Alexander Isak. Iraola said he will have to 'wait and see' if any of the trio recover in time to play against Brentford.
'It's early for us to say, we have still tomorrow's training,' Iraola said on Thursday. 'Obviously, they were not ready for last night [against LASK]. We have to wait and see. I think it's still very early but the same way I said they are not available for the previous games, I leave the chance open this time, yes.'
Suspension and rotation
Liverpool will be without the suspended Ryan Gravenberch after his sending off against City. Iraola hinted he will have to rotate during a busy period for his side.
'In this period especially when we are basically playing every three days – almost less than three days – you need more players,' he added. 'That's why we changed the team a little bit yesterday. We will need to change again at the weekend, we will need to change again when we face Villarreal in another three days. We need everyone, we will need everyone in one moment or the other. Everyone has to be ready because we will need him probably.'
Leoni's recovery setback
Giovanni Leoni is nearing a return to first-team training, but Iraola confirmed the Italian faced additional hurdles after a serious ACL injury last season. 'It's taking more time than we wanted,' he said. 'With Leo, the plan was to train in the international break but it will be the next one, so we have lost one month of progress. It was not just an ACL, it was a bad injury, a lot of areas around the knee. That process has to be very careful and we want to be careful when he returns to the team he stays in a good place. So the plan now is he starts in the next break. Later than we expected.'
