“I’m going to play holding midfielder”- Rival boss jokes about Jurgen Klopp ahead of crunch clash this week

Pep Guardiola makes Jurgen Klopp joke ahead of Liverpool vs Manchester City

Club Football returns to normalcy in just a few days in the English top tier. Less than a week after the conclusion of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Liverpool will lock horns with Manchester City in the Fourth Round of the EFL Carabao Cup.

Most players will only be making their way back into team training from the World Cup and it is extremely normal for sides to be understaffed at this moment in time. Five of six Liverpool representatives qualified for the knock-out stage making their return take that extra time.

However, the good news for the Reds is the fact that the Brazilian duo of Alisson and Fabinho are back training

with the rest of the squad. The likes of Virgil van Dijk, Jordan Henderson, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Ibrahima Konate will join the squad later. Meanwhile, Darwin Nunez is already training with the squad.

More so for Manchester City, for whom multiple players progressed through to the knockouts of the tournament. And at such a time when the teams are understaffed, Man City boss Pep Guardiola made a giggle-worthy joke about the managers filling in for the players. Here is what he said via The Mirror:

“He’s [Klopp] going to play at left-back, I’m going to play holding midfielder,”

During their playing days, Jurgen Klopp predominantly played as a right-back for Mainz and Guardiola established himself as a good holding midfielder for Barcelona. With the lack of players at the moment, the Spaniard joked that the team managers will have to do the extras.

Reds have to cope with an understaffed side

Not a bad idea though, it would be fun to see all the managers of the league in a kickabout. One thing is for sure, if Stevie was still Aston Villa manager, he would have grabbed headlines. Jokes apart, it will be tough for both sides to assess the fitness level of players and take the call of involving them in the games.

The Reds are already struggling enough with the problem of not having enough depth, and this game could presumably echo the need for more players. Hopefully, the Reds can get a result from this game and progress through to the next stage of the competition.

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The Reds’ league campaign shall restart on Boxing Day against Unai Emery’s Villa side in Birmingham, and Liverpool could potentially face World Cup-winning Emi Martinez in that game. Hopefully, that fixture marks the start of a positive restart to the league.