Klopp, who takes his team to struggling Sunderland on Wednesday evening, has few options up front with Sturridge sidelined by a hamstring injury and Origi awaiting the results of a scan on a similar problem.
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However, the German acknowledged that Benteke needs to work harder for the team if he wants to start regularly for the Merseysiders.
“Otherwise we always have to stay here in this situation for the next 10 years and always talk about, ‘Where is Daniel Sturridge, can you play him?’?” That is what we need him for.
With Daniel Sturridge close to making his return from injury, Benteke will be acutely aware of that particular fact.
“He was good at Watford too, it was not easy to look good in Watford but he was”.
“At the beginning we were too anxious and nervous and we started to play so late, I don’t know why”.
“We have to give the body the right information, and then he can go”.
Training will never replicate the intensity of an actual Premier League game, but Klopp should (IMO) arrange training games where Sturridge is up against his team-mates (Prem players) in a competitive environment.
“So you can see what we have to do. Of course I am still a young player and I want to learn”, the 25-year-old revealed on liverpoolfc.com on Monday.
But he vowed that the Reds are still working on making more of their chances, saying “you have to be in situations more often” when it comes to scoring goals – insisting “you can not say wait for the one chance and you will score it because it is not like this” and that “you always have to be in the positions”.
“I spoke with the manager a few days ago about where I can improve and what he is expecting from me”.
“When I came in it was for Brendan and now it is for Jurgen, so it is a different manager. It is part of football”, he said. “Now we must think about Sunderland”. “Every player wants to play but it is the decision of the manager and I have to be ready”.
“I think we showed our great team spirit, we were attacking all together like a team and we were also a team defensively”. N’Golo Kante nearly scored by turning a cross from Christian Fuchs toward goal, only for returning Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet to make a low save.
Klopp said: “I was surprised about what everybody told me about Dejan”.
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“And then we let him play and then you ask him and he will say this”.
