Saturday 8 April 2017

Jurgen Klopp advice to Reds: 'Forget they have to play like Liverpool'

Jurgen Klopp has told his team to "forget they have to play like Liverpool" as mounting injuries threaten the Reds' top-four hopes this season ahead of an away trip to Stoke.
Star forward Sadio Mane was ruled out for the remainder of the season on Friday and Liverpool could be without Philippe Coutinho against the Potters this Saturday due to illness.
With Daniel Sturridge also unlikely to start up front, the German manager has tipped his side to change their style in light of a potential lack of options up front.
then use the situations to create with this. That is how we will play, 100 percent.
"You can win football games with each line-up. That is the nice thing about this game."
Jurgen Klopp has given his side one order: Don't play like Liverpool.
Coutinho has yet to fully recover from an illness that forced him off early in the 2-2 draw with Bournemouth.
The Brazil international was substituted midway through the second half at Anfield after vomiting at half-time and has not yet returned to training.
"We all know about his quality, there is no doubt about that, and it's good to have him back but difficult to put him straight back," said Klopp.
"Friday's session was only his third and it will be a high intensity game at Stoke so it's difficult.
"It is a risk and he's no chance of playing 90 minutes and if he starts then you would have to change and all that stuff.
"That's the situation; it is better than when he is not in training but it is still early."
Klopp could consider youngsters Trent Alexander-Arnold and Ben Woodburn against Stoke. Both were unused substitutes against Bournemouth.
"I love giving these boys an opportunity but it has to be the right situation and the game against Bournemouth didn't look like the perfect moment to give them the responsibility for the rest of the game," Klopp said.
"The young boys give us a few options -- it's about Ben, Trent, Harry, Marko Grujic -- and these are the boys we have to think about but also about the position, who can help us where and can we create a situation where they can really perform?"
Klopp said it has been unfortunate to see Serbian youngster Grujic's first season at Liverpool halted by a number of injuries.
Grujic, who joined from Red Star Belgrade in the summer, has played just 28 minutes of Premier League football this campaign, making five appearances in all competitions.
His last first-team outing came in November, but Klopp has said the 20-year-old could feature against Stoke on Saturday, with Liverpool's squad currently decimated by injuries.
Grujic has been building up his match fitness with two appearances for the under-23s last month and was a substitute for Liverpool's games with Everton and Bournemouth.
"He played in the U23s then he was injured," Klopp said. "I watched the game against Chelsea [on March 13] and it was a really good game.
"After 60 minutes he was getting tired then we couldn't involve him in our training regularly. It's not too cool.
"We have to think about it. Maybe when I know the system we exactly want to play in [against Stoke], that depends too on what the doc tells me.
"We have to see what players can best play in each position. He's an option for one of these positions depending on what system we play."

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