Jurgen Klopp admits he may be forced to enter the January transfer market after the recent injury setbacks to Coutinho and Lovren.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp revealed injuries to Philippe Coutinho and Dejan Lovren cast a big shadow over last night’s 1-0 win against Stoke City and may even force him to look for a centre-back in the January transfer window.
Mamadou Sakho missed Tuesday’s fixture due to a minor knee issue, leaving Kolo Toure as the only fit centre-back in the squad and even Toure faced some problems with cramps late on at the Britannia Stadium.
Klopp has now decided to call for reinforcements ahead of Liverpool’s next match on Friday night.
“In this moment with no centre-back fit I would say it is a situation where we have to think about going into the transfer market,” he also said. “Two weeks ago we had three centre-backs, that’s a good situation, at the start of the season we had five, now we have none.”
Jordon Ibe who played against Stoke due to Coutinho’s hamstring injury, scored the only goal of the match in the 37th minute and despite another hamstring injury for Lovren, Liverpool showed an impressive performance which the German manager called for following Saturday’s shock 2-0 defeat at the hands of West Ham.
“It is a little bit of a strange feeling because on the one side we have won this game and played well, the fight was great,” Klopp tried to remain optimistic after the Capital One Cup semifinal first leg against Stoke.
“I don’t say it too often but I was really angry last week but now I’m proud because we have reacted so well in such a difficult game in all parts.
“Before the game if somebody had told us draw we would take it, so 1-0, we are happy. Of course with the injuries it is not perfect, two injuries it is not good.
“A big shadow for us were the injuries which don’t look too good. We will have to wait for this, I don’t know how serious, but it is not such good news.”
Liverpool currently have six of the first team members either with, or still recovering from hamstring injuries but with a packed up fixture schedule ahead (an FA Cup trip to Exeter on Friday); Klopp is really confused how to solve the problems.
“Injuries? Yeah that’s it, we will look at our training! We don’t train, we only recover, and that is the situation now? There is no training,” he stated.
“But it’s no problem really. I am responsible for these things and if you want to make me responsible then it’s OK.
“We have five hamstrings [Coutinho, Lovren, Martin Skrtel, Jordan Rossiter and Divock Origi with Daniel Sturridge still rehabilitating from one] and it’s my responsibility but it is like it is and we have to see what we can do.”
Meanwhile, Jordon Ibe said he first thought Joe Allen’s pass which assisted his goal was might be an attempted shot on goal.
“I think he was trying to get the shot off, but it was good that we got the goal,” he said.