Rotation has been the name of the game for Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp and the German manager will keep that trend going this weekend when West Bromwich Albion visit Anfield in the fourth round of the FA Cup. Some changes will be made to give players returning from injury a chance to get back in on the action, others will be to give those in the first team picture a rest and some he just can’t help but make with a bug sweeping through Melwood.
“Millie got a dead leg in training; if Millie says it’s too painful for training then you can imagine how painful it is,” said the Reds boss in his pre-match press conference. “So it’s very important that Hendo is back. We have only one more session, today, but it’s not that my thoughts are finished already about the line-up because it’s that time of the year,” added Klopp, going on to reveal that a few players, including Ragnar Klavan, have been out ill. “With Hendo it was not the longest break, but it was a break. So we have to think about it, like we have to think about it with one or two other players.”
Liverpool followed up their thrilling 4-3 win over Manchester City last weekend by promptly losing to bottom of the table Swansea City on Monday and though they held on to their place in the top four, the gaffer will want to get his team back to winnings ways as soon as possible.
Dejan Lovren, who was out of the first team picture with a bug earlier in the week, could return to the starting eleven along with the likes of Danny Ings and Daniel Sturridge, but just when things were starting to look up for Adam Lallana, he took a knock that will rule him out of the meeting with the Baggies.
“Adam Lallana, unfortunately, again has a little issue that I’m pretty sure keeps him out of the next game,” said Klopp when asked about the 29-year old. “It’s not a big one. It’s how it is when you have a long injury, and Adam had a long injury. A few things come. It needs time to adapt again to the intensity of a Premier League game,” mused the German manager. “We tried to be careful with that but obviously so far it didn’t work really well.”
