Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has advised his team to ‘forget playing like Liverpool’ amidst their mounting injury struggles in the final run-in of the season.
Liverpool are now comfortably seated at 3rd place in the league standings but it is not for granted as they are chased tightly by Manchester City, Manchester United, and Arsenal.
The Reds are currently without star man Sadio Mane, who has been ruled out for the season. It looks like Coutinho might not be available for Saturday due to illness, with Sturridge also not being considered by Klopp as an option to start up front, it appears as though the German manager might switch his tactics a little bit to deal with this present scenario.
Klopp was quoted by ESPN:
“I feel confidence in this moment because I know about football and I know what is possible. The only thing we have to forget, if you want, is that we are Liverpool and have to play like Liverpool. We have to be a real challenge for them. That is what we have to be. We can be this.”
“That is how most of the teams are playing against us — to defend as good as possible and then use the situations to create with this. That is how we will play, 100 percent. You can win football games with each line-up. That is the nice thing about this game.”
Coutinho was substituted midway against Bournemouth in their frustrating 2-2 draw and he would be unavailable for Saturday’s trip to Stoke as well. The Brazilian reportedly vomited during the half-time break against Bournemouth and was taken off in the second half.
Klopp said about Coutinho:
“We all know about his quality, there is no doubt about that, and it’s good to have him back but difficult to put him straight back. Friday’s session was only his third and it will be a high-intensity game at Stoke so it’s difficult. It is a risk and he’s no chance of playing 90 minutes and if he starts then you would have to change and all that stuff. That’s the situation; it is better than when he is not in training but it is still early.”
From what appears to be an injury crisis for Liverpool, Klopp might consider youngsters Trent Alexander-Arnold and Ben Woodburn against Stoke. Both the players were unused substitutes against Bournemouth.
The German said:
“I love giving these boys an opportunity but it has to be the right situation and the game against Bournemouth didn’t look like the perfect moment to give them the responsibility for the rest of the game. The young boys give us a few options — it’s about Ben, Trent, Harry, Marko Grujic — and these are the boys we have to think about but also about the position, who can help us where and can we create a situation where they can really perform?”
Despite the Reds’ injury problems, Klopp seems unfazed by that and is sounding confident as always. If he does hand opportunities to Woodburn, Alexander-Arnold, or Grujic, it would be a great stepping stone for the young talents to showcase their abilities.
Somehow, Liverpool are still on a good track!
Comments are closed.