Liverpool are without as many as 12 key players for this game.
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The Liverpool Echo reported on Thursday that Jordon Ibe, too, had sustained a hamstring injury in the semifinal.
It ended 2-2 and a replay at Anfield will be needed to separate the two sides and decide who goes into the fourth round.
After playing five games in 14 days, Liverpool have another fixture to add to their list after a draw against Exeter City.
“We tried to create a common plan and idea”.
Exeter manager Paul Tisdale said he was delighted with his players’ performance after four straight league defeats.
“We try to be successful but you need a little bit of luck, we haven’t had this”.
Liverpool’s league form has been hugely inconsistent this season and they now sit eighth in the table after a 2-0 defeat to West Ham at Upton Park last weekend, and with a League Cup final at Wembley already a realistic possibility, it’s easy to see why Klopp isn’t making the FA Cup his top priority.
“I think the headline has upset him in the nationals”, began the Black Cats boss, cited by ITV. He was injured a few weeks ago and now he is in training. “I was just giving what I see could be one of the reasons why we get injuries”, he said. That is not possible.
“We have to make decisions in this moment for the team, so we have to make changes”, Klopp said ahead of the third-round tie at St James Park. We’ve got a home tie, which is unusual for us over the past decade, and we got number 23, which was one of the ones that we were looking out for.
Klopp has recalled Ryan Kent and Sheyi Ojo from their loans spells, which means they are also very likely to make their debuts as well on Friday. Also in line to start were full-backs Connor Randall and Brad Smith, midfielders Joao Teixeira and Cameron Brannagan and goalkeeper Adam Bogdan, who have made 15 first-team appearances between them.
Allardyce claimed the spate of hamstring injuries that Liverpool had picked up were down to Klopp’s high-tempo pressing game when he spoke with talkSPORT on Wednesday.
“They came back yesterday, we trained together and again this morning for about 40 minutes”. That is the situation.
“It is a big tournament and we have a big respect for it. Tomorrow we have to find a solution”.
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Klopp will be able to bring in his own players with the January now window open, having struggled to improve consistency since taking over in October.
