Jürgen Klopp met with the media today ahead of tomorrow's Emirates FA Cup match against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Kick-off today is at 20:00 GMT from Anfield. Liverpool begin their defence of last year's FA Cup trophy against a team that has given them trouble in this competition.
Klopp discussed Virgil van Dijk's unfortunate hamstring injury, and he talked extensively about Cody Gakpo joining the team. He also touched on if the Reds' would change anything before the match against Wolverhampton, known to football fans simply as Wolves.
While Klopp appeared to downplay the importance of Virgil van Dijk's injury, it has to be mentioned that Liverpool will sorely miss the big Dutchman's presence. Not just in this weekend's game versus Wolverhampton but, for at least a few weeks.
The manager said, “It's not a short-term and I had longer-term injuries as well in my career as a manager. So, it's somewhere in between… He will be out for a few weeks, definitely."
Also in his cagey response, Klopp talked about the club having “other centre-halves that they have to rely on. However, you have to think that Big Virg's injury will massively impact a Liverpool defence that has not been good for big parts of this season.
The manager did give a straightforward response to whether Jordan Henderson would be available. The Captain will be available for tomorrow's match. Klopp said, "He did exactly what he was allowed to do yesterday – big parts of team training without heading… And from today on, I think he's completely allowed to do everything."
Much of today's press conference was spent talking about Cody Gakpo. While he didn't say it in the press conference, Klopp later confirmed on LiverpoolFC.com, “Yes, he is in contention. He will be involved in the squad, of course. How exactly we will have to decide in the next few hours, but that's fine.”
The Boss had nothing but good things to say about the Reds' new forward in the presser as well. Klopp said, “All the things you can know about Cody Gakpo describe him as a very, very good person. He is born and bred Eindhoven – there for years and years, [I] don't [know] exactly how old he was, eight or nine years when he joined the club, going through all the teams, all the ranks, becoming captain at the age of 22, 23. That all says a lot about him.”
The manager seems to want consistency and perhaps the way to get that is to keep things consistent from game to game. However, since things on the field have been very inconsistent this year, maybe a little change would do the Reds some good.
Now, without a big piece of the defence sidelined, might be the right time to make some changes to the system. However, if we know anything about Klopp, it is that he will probably insist on pressing for offence before he covers for the holes in the defence. For us, that doesn't bode well for the rest of this season.
