Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has blamed injuries for the club’s lackluster start to the season. The Reds currently have six players on the sidelines with various injuries/illnesses. Throughout the early stages of the current campaign, Liverpool even had 19 different players miss at least one game.
Speaking ahead of his club’s Champions League match with Ajax on Wednesday, Klopp again acknowledged all injuries. “It starts with injuries, then the problem is players who don’t have injuries have to play too often and then players who do have injuries come back and play too early too often. That’s the way it is,” Klopp told Sky Sports.
“And then they come back and play and then they have another [maybe] not injuries but ‘other things’ and then the medical department says they can’t play more than 20 minutes, they shouldn’t do this and they shouldn’t do that, and this sort of thing, and that’s how you get into the matches of the Premier League with a knife between his teeth.”
Klopp credits injuries to Liverpool’s slow start
However, Liverpool have recently received some good news on the injury front. Darwin Núñez and Ibrahima Konate will be available for selection on Wednesday. The duo had been out of action with muscle injuries. The striker missed the team’s last game, while Konate has only appeared in two games this season.
Klopp also confirmed that Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are returning to the court. “Yes, the players are coming back Ibou [Konate]Close [Keita], [Alex] Oxlade-Chamberlain need to train,” Klopp said. “We thought they would be out longer, but now they are back, which is good, not to play again, but to be there and play a few minutes.”
Liverpool fans thought their side were on the mend after a slow start following back-to-back wins against Rangers, Manchester City and West Ham. However, the Reds suffered a rare 1-0 loss to Nottingham Forest at the weekend.
However, the Merseyside club can book their place in the UCL knockout round if they avoid defeat on Wednesday.
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