Arne Slot unhappy with Micky van de Ven after Alexander Isak injury: ‘A reckless challenge’

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Liverpool head coach Arne Slot accused Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven of causing a serious injury with his “reckless challenge” on Alexander Isak after the striker was ruled out for a “couple of months” with a broken leg. Isak was injured while scoring just his third goal for Liverpool (Getty Images)Van de Ven was not punished for the tackle, unlike Tottenham midfielder Xavi Simons - who was sent off in the first half after catching Virgil van Dijk on the calf with his studs.

Afterwards, Slot accepted that Simons’ tackle was accidental - but, speaking on Tuesday, the Dutch coach said he was disappointed with the nature of Van de Ven’s lunge and accused his compatriot of causing a “serious injury” with dangerous play. The tackle of Van de Ven if you make it ten times, I think ten times there is a serious chance a player gets a serious injury.“It's going to be a long injury - a couple of months.

A big, big disappointment for him and for us.” Isak scored 27 goals in all competitions for Newcastle last season but has managed just three since joining Liverpool (AFP via Getty Images)Slot admitted Isak has been through a “really challenging and difficult period” since joining Liverpool for a British transfer record fee of £125m and said the striker will need support as he attempts to recover and play some part in the rest of his first season at Anfield. ‘Usually when you join a new club you are very excited and you want to show immediately all the qualities you have, but that was simply impossible,” Slot said. “So we always knew that it would take him time and that's why he's so unlucky that he's now injured because I think we all saw with his goal against West Ham, with this goal [against Tottenham], that he got closer and closer to the player he was last season at Newcastle.”