Jurgen Klopp admitted he is envious of “lucky” Tottenham as he struggles to deal with a growing injury list at Liverpool.
The manager of the Premier League leaders admitted he has “problems” with availability after ruling Dejan Lovren, Adam Lallana and long-time absentee Joe Gomez out of Saturday’s Premier League clash against Brighton.
Klopp revealed how he watched Tottenham’s League Cup clash against Chelsea on Tuesday night and noticed how both teams had “benches full, full squads, lucky them”.
Klopp: "We already have problems. I saw Chelsea v Tottenham with both benches full, full squads, lucky them." #LFC
— James Pearce (@JamesPearceLFC) January 11, 2019
Klopp: "The players we didn't line up at Wolves were either injured, a little bit injured or played all 9 games in December. The centre-back situation isn't too cool in this moment but in a couple of weeks it should look completely different."
— James Pearce (@JamesPearceLFC) January 11, 2019
OPINION
‘Lucky’ Tottenham? Hang on a minute, Jurgen. Every Spurs fans will be getting het up at that claim, given how their own manager Mauricio Pochettino has had to deal with a never-ending injury crisis this season that has robbed him of virtually every key player at some point to an injury that has sidelined them for a month, with perhaps Harry Kane and Toby Alderweireld the only exceptions. Even now, Jan Vertonghen, Eric Dier, Mousa Dembele and Victor Wanyama are long-time absentees, while Lucas Moura is set for a late fitness test ahead of the team’s clash against Manchester United. Perhaps Klopp didn’t care to notice that Spurs’ subs bench against Chelsea was far from their strongest, featuring rookies Oliver Skipp and Kyle Walker-Peters, as well as another youngster in Juan Foyth. Were all the big guns fit, it is certain that trio would not be in the matchday 18. Spurs have had monumental injury problems all season. Liverpool are only just experienced their first issues in that regard. The Londoners have been far from fortunate.