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Arne Slot sends warning to Federico Chiesa right after Liverpool’s 2-1 win over Southampton

Srinivas Sadhanand

Thu 19 December 2024 8:55, UK

Liverpool took one step further in their quest to win the Carabao Cup by booking their place in the semi-finals after beating Southampton 2-1 on Wednesday night.

Goals from Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott were enough for Arne Slot to continue his phenomenal start to life at Anfield, with Cameron Archer’s strike ending up as a mere consolation goal.

The Dutchman made eight changes to his Liverpool line-up from the side that drew 2-2 against Fulham, which goes to show that the Carabao Cup is not his biggest priority this season.

However, Arne Slot had the chance to give young players such as Trey Nyoni and Tyler Morton a chance in the first-team.

Another player who Slot decided to give a runout was Federico Chiesa, albeit off the bench.

Since he has signed for Liverpool, the former Juventus forward has been unable to display his talent due to being restricted by injury. Chiesa was told he made a mistake with Liverpool being his club of choice after Juve by Massimo Orlando.

Arne Slot’s “it’s not enough” message to Federico Chiesa after Liverpool beat Southampton

Chiesa was believed to be unhappy at Liverpool as well due to having him a bit-part role in the side.

However, the Italian international had a chance to block out all the noise and show Reds supporters what he does best after replacing Trent Alexander-Arnold at half-time.

After Liverpool’s victory against Southampton, Arne Slot initially reminded others that Chiesa had not played much football and as a result, his display had its ups and its downs.

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.”

However, Arne Slot sent a message to the £12.5 million () man to step his game up as he is competing for a starting place with a whole host of top-class forwards.

“Now, he’s out for so long, to get him back to his best level is not easy but it was good to see that he showed some quality today. But same for him like for the youngsters, it’s not enough. To play at this level, you’ve got to compete with Mo Salah, Cody Gakpo, Lucho [Luis Diaz], Darwin [Nunez], Diogo [Jota].”

“But it’s good to see that he’s back and he also had a few good moments in the game.”

How did Federico Chiesa play for Liverpool against Southampton?

With Liverpool having a plethora of quality forwards at their disposal, Chiesa cannot afford to rest on his laurels.

However, if the 27-year-old does embrace Slot’s message, he could become a starter at one of the biggest clubs in the world.

The statistics indicate that Chiesa had a mixed outing.

Once the European Championship winner feels fully match-fit, he could turn out to be an exciting player.

But against the Saints, Chiesa looked bright yet rusty.