Klopp confident of a stronger defence

LIVERPOOL’S central defensive injury problems should be cleared up soon, manager Juergen Klopp said as the Premier League leaders prepare for today’s test at Brighton & Hove Albion.

Croatian centre-back Dejan Lovren picked up a muscle injury in Monday’s FA Cup defeat at Wolverhampton to add to the absence of two other central defenders Joel Matip and Joe Gomez.

Klopp said Matip was back in training and suggested that Lovren could be back after the Januray 19 game against Crystal Palace.

“Joel trained this week for the first time with the team which is really good but we have to see and decide day-by-day,” he added.

The German indicated that Brazilian holding midfielder Fabinho could again fill-in alongside Virgil van Dijk and noted it was not a major shift for him to drop deeper.

“If Fabinho has to play as a centre half what we want is the natural understanding of the game,” he said.

“If you are a holding six (midfielder) or a centre half with the ball it is easier,” he added.

Liverpool’s defeat at Manchester City leaves them with just a four point lead over Pep Guardiola’s side but their loss to Wolves leaves them with one less competition on their schedule.

Asked whether that would give Liverpool an advantage over their rivals, Klopp said that depended on how well they made use of the extra preparation time.

“There’s no advantage. You can do a lot of wrong things when you have a week to train. That is possible. We have to use the time and understand the challenge right,” he said.

Klopp, whose team are also out of the League Cup, conceded however that he does prefer to have the opportunity to train more with single game weeks.

“It’s my preferred rhythm. It’s our situation, it’s not that we decided to go out of the cups,” he said. | Reuters