Liverpool's new injury BLOW could actually be a massive blessing | OneFootball

Liverpool have suffered an injury blow and it'll hurt them. But it might actually be a blessing in the long run here.

Arne Slot revealed on Friday that Florian Wirtz will now be missing against Nottingham Forest this weekend. The playmaker has a problem after coming back from the international break and will not feature for Liverpool.

It's a blow, given Liverpool have other injuries to contend with. Conor Bradley will be missing for the next few weeks, as will Jeremie Frimpong. They're the two recognised right-backs in the squad - Slot will need to be inventive to cover for them.

Alisson Becker might be back, though Giorgi Mamardashvili has deputised very well in goal. There's also a question mark over Alexander Isak as he didn't play in Sweden's second fixture.

That was because he was near a suspension rather than anything else, but Slot admitted he'd hoped Isak would get a few more minutes under his belt before returning to Liverpool. The Reds will need to be careful with him, as always.

The Wirtz injury, though, is an interesting one as it might end up being a bit of a blessing for Liverpool.

Florian Wirtz's fitness

Wirtz hasn't hit the ground running at Liverpool, even if he's played well in parts. We just haven't seen the attacking output we've wanted.

Now, a large part of that is simply because the team isn't functioning properly. Virtually no one is playing well, not consistently, anyway. Wirtz is a newcomer into the league, the club and the team - adjusting quickly into a team that doesn't click together is near-impossible.

And so if Liverpool are to get the best out of Wirtz, they need him firing on all cylinders. That was never really going to happen post-international break as he played all but 13 minutes of Germany's two fixtures.

Now, we don't know what the full extent of the injury is, just that Arne Slot doesn't appear to believe it will keep Wirtz out longer than one game. That game is against Nottingham Forest - a team struggling badly and on their third manager of the campaign.

We think it's good that Wirtz get a mini-break, then, and doesn't feature this weekend. He can come back refreshed into what is arguably a bigger game next week against PSV Eindhoven and, hopefully, play a key role there.

It's the way round we'd choose things, anyway. Instead of running Wirtz into the ground and hoping he finally shows his best form, he gets a breather and returns for the UEFA Champions League clash.