The international break might just feel that bit longer than normal for Arne Slot as he plots a return to winning ways for Liverpool next month at Manchester City.
After a run of one point from the last nine available in the Premier League, the champions head into the March break at a low ebb, with their next assignment an FA Cup quarter-final tie at City on Saturday, April 4.
Slot, of course, will be keeping his fingers crossed for his international contingent to return healthy and fit as the Liverpool head coach can ill-afford to be without any more players right now.
Hugo Ekitike, theoretically, will be okay to return after the injury he suffered in the early stages of Saturday's 2-1 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion was revealed to be a dead leg.
"Hugo, I think he could play tomorrow if he needed to," Slot said. "It was a dead leg, as you call it here I think."
If the 17-goal top scorer is unscathed with France then he will come back into the fold for that visit to City, but it's unclear at this stage what the situation looks like for Mohamed Salah.
The Egyptian, somewhat famously, is rarely injured, so seeing him ask to come off against Galatasaray on Wednesday night was alarming.
He missed Saturday's trip to Brighton with Slot saying the day that it was an issue to pick up on the other side of the break.
"The good thing for Liverpool and for us is that we go to an international break," Slot said. "The bad thing for Egypt is that he can't go there.
"We are hoping also with what Mo has shown in the past that he can recover faster than other players might in similar situations because he takes such good care of his body.
"History has shown that he can be earlier back than some others. But it's only two weeks when we go again so let's hope in that period of time he can be back."
The good news is that Salah won't be on duty for Egypt, which greatly aids his rest and recovery process. The Reds could use him at the Etihad, that is certain.
At the other end of the pitch, Alisson Becker and his condition will also face questioning after a muscle injury forced him to miss the Brighton match over the weekend.
The Brazil goalkeeper faces a race against time to be fit for a huge week in early April, with Liverpool slated to travel to Paris for the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie with PSG following the FA Cup clash with City.
"Alisson will definitely be out during the international break and let's see afterwards," Slot said after the loss to Brighton.
The break does also allow Alexander Isak two weeks of further recovery and rehabilitation time, with Slot revealing on Friday that the £125m striker will be ready for inclusion in Paris as things stood.
"Alex will available [for PSG], yes," Slot confirmed on Friday in the embargoed section of his press conference. "The question is what you mean around 'being ready'.
"If you want to have the player who played exactly a year ago against us in the Carabao Cup final - and was too good for us on that day - then I would tell you I have my doubts about that after seven or eight months out.
"But I expect that I can use him for minutes. Exactly what I get from that I cannot tell you because he hasn't trained with the team even once."
Slot, of course, was right to urge caution regarding Isak, given how disrupted his first season at Anfield has been. The striker hasn't played since December 20 when he broke his leg from Micky van den Ven's challenge as he opened the scoring at Tottenham Hotspur.
Expecting Isak to be at the level that made him the most expensive footballer in British football history is fanciful. But just having the Sweden star available to selection once more will surely give the squad a big lift at a time when they need it.
Isak has yet to train with his colleagues but images from the AXA Centre at the back end of the break may yet show him in action with his team-mates for the first time this year. That will be quite the boost.
Slot will be praying for no more setbacks during the break but the fitness and rehabilitation team at the AXA Training Centre have got a critically important fortnight ahead as they aim to get several key stars ready for the business end.
