Andy Robertson's Liverpool situation addressed as injury on Scotland duty hampers club progress

Liverpool manager Arne Slot believes Scotland captain Andy Robertson will soon rediscover his best form after admitting that the left-back is paying the price for missing the majority of pre-season due to injury.

The 30-year-old, whose contract at Anfield is due to expire at the end of the season, has only recently broken back into the Liverpool starting XI and was left out of the starting XI by Slot for Saturday’s Premier League match against Brighton and Hove Albion.

Slot revealed that Robertson played through the pain barrier towards the end of last season after injuring his ankle while on Scotland duty back in March, and that he was unable to fully take part in Slot’s pre-season plans and new tactical approach after taking over from Jurgen Klopp in June.

Andy Robertson did not start for Liverpool against Brighton. | Liverpool FC via Getty Images

“I think his current situation is what you can expect if a player misses out on pre-season and a new manager comes in – you miss quite a lot,” Slot said ahead of Saturday’s match. “You have to go into a programme where you’ve missed the base tactically, when it comes to us [a new management team], and physically as well.

“Then, when you start to play, maybe he thinks a bit too much because there are not many things different but in some situations we ask for a bit different positioning from a left-back. For me, he is a bit in that period of time where he is thinking: ‘OK, I’m here now, should I be here or there?’ The moment he stops thinking but is just acting on what we expect he will be fine.

“That, combined with the fact that Robbo has always been a great player for this club especially because he went up and down, up and down all the time. Therefore he needs to have some time because he missed out on pre-season to come back to that up-and-down, up-and-down full-back. I see him getting there more and more; that’s the good thing.”