Arne Slot could turn to Liverpool trio given special training sessions after international break

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Liverpool Echo IconSportFootballLiverpool FCThree members of Arne Slot's Reds first-team squad haven't been on international duty over the past few daysMark is a Content Editor at Reach PLC's Liverpool Hub, and was appointed to the role in 2025. Prior to that appointment he worked solely for the Mirror for nine years, primarily in the role of Sports Features Editor.

An experienced sports writer and editor, Mark worked for the Mirror at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and at Euro 2024 in Germany. A regular contributor to podcasts and videos, his work can be seen both in print and online, and his exclusive interview with the Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk in April 2024 is one of many successful projects Mark has completed for Reach PLC.Somewhat unfathomably, it is still only 11 days since Liverpool's last-gasp defeat at Chelsea.The circumstances surrounding that Stamford Bridge loss and the international break which has followed has made it feel more like 111, but even if the calendar is telling the truth you can bet that there will have been some important work done at the AXA Training Centre in the past week and a half.While the break will have done him and his players some good, Arne Slot would have been hard at work poring over the circumstances of the three successive defeats which have suddenly turned this Liverpool season into one of introspection, with questions being asked of almost everyone including the Dutchman himself.The full answers to those questions should be found in the weeks to come, but as Slot cast his eye around Kirkby in recent days he might just have seen a few handy solutions to some of his most pressing issues.READ MORE: Liverpool dressing room view on Hugo Ekitike after forward's 'needless, stupid' moveREAD MORE: I talk often to Federico Chiesa - It's been difficult at Liverpool but he deserves to be thereBecause while injuries to Alisson, Wataru Endo and Giovanni Leoni meant that the trio didn't link up with their countries during this international break, there were three more Reds first-team players who weren't called up by their nations at all.Joe Gomez, Curtis Jones and Federico Chiesa will all have spent the past week and a half building up fitness away from their absent team-mates, with individual gym sessions and special programmes put in place for three players who have all suffered with their injury issues.All three do have international experience of course, possessing 72 senior caps between them.Gomez was a mainstay in England squads in the latter part of the last decade, and then won his place back last year as he made four friendly appearances and was included in Gareth Southgate's squad for Euro 2024.Of the three Jones will probably feel most annoyed at having been left out after starting in England midfields under Lee Carsley and Thomas Tuchel, scoring on his debut against Greece last year.

Not for the first time in his career, ill-timed injuries seem to have cost him.Then there is the ongoing enigma that is Chiesa, the holder of 51 of those 72 caps who hasn't played for Italy since joining Liverpool in the summer of 2024 when he played in all four of the Azzurri's matches at the Euros.Despite their pedigree, the trio's lack of international recognition in the current window is unsurprising given their recent struggle for club appearances, with just five starts between them this season - three of those coming when all of them began the League Cup win over Southampton.But with question marks over both the form and fitness of Ibrahima Konate in defence, the same concerns arising over Alexis Mac Allister in midfield and the recent struggles of the side in attack, all three of Gomez, Jones and Chiesa can stake their claim for more starts in weeks to come.Slot will have been keeping a close watch on them over the past few days, and they might just have caught his eye.