Ryan Gravenberch left the Netherlands’ game at half time with muscular discomfort, adding to Liverpool\u2019s mounting fitness worries ahead of the Premier League derby with Manchester United this Sunday. Gravenberch, who won a penalty converted by his clubmate Cody Gakpo in a 4\u20130 win over Malta, had started again against Finland but did not complete the match.<\/p>\n
\u201cRyan indicated he had some minor hamstring problems,\u201d Netherlands manager Ronald Koeman revealed postgame. \u201cOf course, we didn\u2019t take any risks with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The midfielder offered a more positive read on his condition. \u201cIt was partly fitness related,\u201d he noted. \u201cThe season is long, so it was a precaution. I\u2019m feeling good and I have the coach\u2019s confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Liverpool will want the towering Dutchman available as they attempt to arrest a worrying run of form, but Arne Slot faces multiple selection headaches beyond Gravenberch\u2019s situation. Ibrahima Konat\u00e9 was released from his national team this month after damaging his quad in Liverpool\u2019s late defeat to Chelsea at the start of October. Some reports suggest there is hope Konat\u00e9 will be fit in time for the visit of Manchester United, but there is no guarantee.<\/p>\n
If Konat\u00e9 is unavailable, Slot would have only two senior centre backs to select from because Giovanni Leoni remains absent long term. Virgil van Dijk would likely start, potentially partnered by Joe Gomez, who last completed 90 minutes in a Premier League match on Boxing Day. Defensive midfielder Wataru Endo is another option to slide into the centre of defence, but he withdrew from Japan\u2019s squad this month with an injury of undisclosed severity.<\/p>\n
Even should Gravenberch be declared fit, Slot may still consider using him in a deeper defensive role rather than in midfield. The manager must weigh limited personnel options alongside tactical concerns as Liverpool prepare for a pivotal derby against Manchester United.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Liverpool face mounting injury concerns before Manchester United; Gravenberch and Konat\u00e9 doubtful…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3754,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175,1083,172],"tags":[299,872,1050],"class_list":["post-3755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liverpool","category-man-utd","category-epl","tag-arne-slot","tag-cody-gakpo","tag-derby-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}