Their defensive injury crisis goes from bad to worse
Liverpool are currently five points clear at the top of the Premier League. That is impressive by anyone’s standards, let alone when the main competitors are Manchester City. And they have coped with a fair few injuries along the way.
Thankfully for Liverpool, key players such as Mo Salah and Virgil Van Dijk have managed to stay fit, but their defensive injury list is longer than most managers would be able to cope with. Jordan Henderson had to play at right-back against Leicester, making the decision to loan out Nathaniel Clyne even more baffling.
And their defensive crisis has just got worse, as Jurgen Klopp fears long term casualty Joe Gomez could require surgery after he suffered a fracture to his leg during the Reds’ away trip to Burnley on December 5th.
Gomez was initially meant to be sidelined for just six weeks with a minor fracture but concerns have been raised over how the bone has healed, according to the Liverpool Echo.
Asked whether Gomez would require an operation, Klopp said: “I don’t know. We will see. It is possible, probably.
“It is not exactly going how we want, that’s how it is. He needs more time. We will see exactly how we do it.
“There were different moments when we thought we could do this or that. It will take time. We can not say more.”
To add insult to injury, Dejan Lovren is set to miss Liverpool’s trip to play West Ham at the London Stadium on Monday night after a recurring hamstring problem returned this week.
The Croatian defender hasn’t featured since he limped off during Liverpool’s defeat to Wolves in the FA Cup on January 7th.
Joel Matip is likely to start alongside Van Dijk in central defence against West Ham, while Henderson looks set to play at right-back again with Trent Alexander-Arnold still on his way back from an injury.
Alexander-Arnold is due to return to full training next week, though, and should be fit for Liverpool’s clash with Bournemouth on February 9th.
Despite the defensive crisis, Klopp insists he has no regrets over sending Clyne out on loan.
“I can imagine people think that but I don’t think about it,” Klopp said.
“In the moment we did it there were different reasons. Then an hour later people could say ‘why did you do that?’
“Milly got suspended and Trent injured or the other way around. Is that perfect? I don’t think so.
“You make the decision in the moment you have to and then people judge it later.
“Hendo did well there. We all know how good Clyney is, but would he have had more offensive influence in the game? I don’t know. Defensively, I did not see a mistake from Hendo.”
