Liverpool injury scare as Arne Slot explains substitutions

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·16 August 2025

Liverpool injury scare as Arne Slot explains substitutions

Liverpool were dealt a minor injury scare on Friday night as Arne Slot explained why he substituted Jeremie Frimpong out of the Bournemouth game.

The full-back, who joined the Reds from Bayer Leverkusen in a £29.5 million deal this summer, was withdrawn after an hour at Anfield.

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Frimpong was replaced by Wataru Endo, while left-back Milos Kerkez also left the pitch to be replaced by Andy Robertson with Liverpool two goals up.

The hosts conceded shortly after the substitutions, with David Brooks setting up Antoine Semenyo. Their defence was exposed by the wide forward again 12 minutes later as he netted an equaliser.

Federico Chiesa and Mo Salah both scored late on to secure all three points for the Premier League champions.

Liverpool injury scare as Arne Slot explains Frimpong sub

Speaking to the media after the final whistle, Slot explained why he took both full-backs off, revealing that Frimpong had a sore hamstring and did not want to risk an injury.

“It wasn’t out of luxury,” the Dutchman said. “Jeremie Frimpong felt his hamstring at half-time and made a lot of sprints.

“He was doing quite well, but our other full-back, Conor Bradley, is already injured with a hamstring injury, so you don’t to take the risk of losing another full-back.

“You could argue, why don’t you play Joe Gomez there, but he only had two sessions in pre-season and could only play half an hour, so we started with Wataru Endo and our left full-back Milos Kerkez.”

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Bradley is expected to return from injury by the end of the month after missing Liverpool’s pre-season campaign.

Kerkez, meanwhile, was flying into tackle on his Liverpool debut, earning himself a booking shortly before halftime. Slot took him off to ensure he wouldn’t see red.

“[Kerkez] is a player I think the fans like because every duel he goes all in,” he said. “But when you have a yellow card already and play Semenyo, that is a risk.

“And if you have Robertson as a back-up, that was the reason for those two.”

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