Jordan Henderson of Liverpool (14) celebrates with team mates Dejan Lovren as he scores their second goal during the Premier League match between Chelsea and Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on September 16, 2016 in London, England.
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As usual, I was shouted down by in-denial fans who refuse to critically evaluate anything that comes out of Jurgen Klopp’s mouth, but it now transpires that Sturridge did actually get injured.
“Nothing has happened until now”.
“Let’s go through a few different kinds of ways in which we could see it”, he said during his pre-match press conference on Thursday.
Liverpool head into this weekend’s game on the back of a 3-0 win over Derby County in the EFL Cup. “We have to find solutions”. Now we have another two days until Saturday and we will see who trains all the time and is ready for the game. There’s no time to look for excuses. We haven’t had the results we want in the league and that’s because we haven’t been scoring goals.
There is a perception that some of the smaller teams adopt a defensive approach against the bigger clubs by “parking the bus”, as Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho once described it.
“But he’s got so much quality and he’s going be a massive player for England and us this year hopefully”.
But he reassured that it was “not a risk” and he was simply “not at 100 per cent for the Derby game”, insisting: “He was not in the squad, but trained on the day”.
“That’s how it is in football”. I know that. The coach here wants me to do more in defence. “It’s not about the past”.
Liverpool, who host Hull City in the Premier League on Saturday, signed Sadio Mane, Georginio Wijnaldum, Joel Matip, Ragnar Klavan, Loris Karius and Alex Manninger this season.
“They’re very good defending teams. Not the name, not the players, only the style of play, what do we have to do, where are the opportunities, where is the space we can create, that’s all what we do”.
There remains a sense of distrust about what the side will achieve while such aberrations occur, but Klopp feels Liverpool supporters are as guilty as the players for saving their best form for more glamorous games.
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“They could be hard but it wasn’t hard because of us”.
