It has been a difficult 24 hours for Arne Slott after his side’s Carabao Cup first-leg defeat to Tottenham last night. The visitors will have to overturn a 1-0 deficit at Anfield next month, thanks to Lukas Bergvall’s controversial late winner.
The Swede swept home just moments after appearing fortunate to escape a second yellow card after beating Kostas Tsimikas, angering Slott.
To make matters worse, the Dutchman was forced to cancel training today (Thursday) after the team’s return flight home was disrupted due to bad weather conditions.
The team were due to land at Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport, having departed London Stansted immediately following their defeat. However, according to The timesFreezing fog derailed these plans and the plan instead landed in Birmingham.
The players, coaches and staff were then said to have been returned to Merseyside via a coach and a number of cars. This meant that the team did not return home until the early hours of the morning, much later than planned.
As a result, Slott canceled his plans to hold a hearing on Thursday. Slott now has just one day left to prepare for Saturday’s FA Cup tie at home to League Two side Accrington Stanley.
It is unlikely that any of the players who started at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will be in the starting XI at lunchtime. Amid a hectic run of games, Liverpool will follow up the draw with a trip to Nottingham Forest on Tuesday, and another defeat will see their lead at the top of the Premier League reduced to three points.
Slott can also take solace that it’s not just his team that has had its weekend preparation disrupted. Heavy snow and ice in the area also prevented Accrington from training properly this week, with John Dolan’s side having to use an indoor dome in Blackburn.
Last weekend, Liverpool City Council waited until 11am on Sunday morning to confirm the club’s home match with Manchester United could go ahead. Heavy snow overnight raised fears of disruption to fans traveling to Anfield, while a number of lower league matches were postponed over the weekend.
After Tottenham’s loss, Slott reduced his fears that his team would falter, after being below par in the 2-2 draw with United. “I felt that Tottenham started the game better than us, but after that, in my opinion, we had most of the control of the game.
“We played most of the game in their half, and we had more possession. There are a lot of good things to take for me, more than the United game, but the result was not as good as it was against United.”