Jurgen Klopp is still holding out hope that Mohamed Salah could be for Saturday's Merseyside derby, but insists he will not risk the 38-goal forward at Goodison Park if he is not 100 percent fit.
Salah came off early in the second half of Liverpool's 3-0 victory over Manchester City on Wednesday after appearing to complain of an issue in his leg.
The Premier League's top goalscorer uploaded a picture of himself in an oxygen chamber on Thursday and Klopp says no decision has been made yet on the lineup for Saturday's game with Everton.
"First of all, I don't think it makes sense when we start talking about what we do with the boys in rehab," Klopp told a news conference on Friday afternoon. "There's maybe another place where we have to talk about that.
"But, of course, you can imagine we tried everything to make him available. There's still 23 hours to go until we start. Let's see what happens."
Liverpool's trip to Goodison comes three days before their Champions League second leg at the Etihad.
"I cannot make Mo available because it's a derby. Even our supporters don't want that," the Liverpool manager added. "If he's a doubt, then he will not be involved. That's the same with all of them. If they are not 100 percent fit, they cannot be involved.
"I would not rest a player who has nothing wrong, we are used to playing games, that is not a problem.
"The only way to work in this job is to be focused always on the next game, and that is Everton. Then after the game you have to see.
"I said before, the next game is never the reason for rotation -- it is always the last game. If I think I have to do this or that, I will do it."
Injuries are mounting up within the Liverpool squad after Salah became the latest fitness concern for Klopp, joining Emre Can and Ragnar Klavan as doubts for Saturday's early kickoff. Klopp opted to remain tight-lipped when asked for an injury update on Friday afternoon.
"There's not too much to say about it for two reasons," he said. "I don't want to give any information away -- that's the first one -- and the other one is because we want to wait a little bit. That's all.
"We have a few hours to go until we go to the hotel, we have a few more hours until the ref starts the game.
"You will see who is available and who is not available when you see the lineup tomorrow because it's not about rotation or something. We need to find solutions. But [I] don't want to give too much information away."
The potential absentees may hand opportunities for youngsters and players on the fringes to be part of Saturday's squad.
Klopp hinted that striker Danny Ings, who has not made a start under the German, stood a good chance of appearing, while young players Conor Masterson, Rafael Camacho, Curtis Jones, Nathaniel Phillips and Herbie Kane have all been training at Melwood this past week.
"Thank God, Danny is here and in a good shape," Klopp said. "I would not guarantee it, but it doesn't look too bad that he could start tomorrow.
"I always say to young players it is about being ready for the opportunity. Conor Masterson has played under-18s, under-23s, he's still a very young lad and these are different experiences.
"They are around now, because we gave the "next generation" on loan to different clubs -- Ryan Kent, Harry Wilson, Ovie Ejaria, Sheyi Ojo, Marko Grujic, these boys are on loan so we use the next generation.
"They are really talented boys, and I am always ready for using them -- but in the right game. We will see when that is."
No comments:
Post a Comment