27 February 2024 , 14:33
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Jurgen Klopp has told his knackered Liverpool players to ignore who is missing as he assembles a team to face Southampton in the FA Cup.
Klopp confirmed Ryan Gravenberch is out with an ankle ligament injury and Wataru Endo is doubtful after hobbling away from Wembley on Sunday after the Carabao Cup Final win to take their casualty list to 12.
Liverpool were due to train on Tuesday afternoon and Klopp claimed he had yet to make a final decision on Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez and Dominik Szoboszlai.
Klopp wants everyone to focus on who is available for the Cup tie and not worry about who is unavailable. When asked about his injured list, Klopp replied: “I don’t know yet, exactly. What I do know is Ryan is not available, besides all the others.
“It’s a ligament injury, it could have been much worse, but it’s bad enough for him to be ruled out for this game, next game, then we will see. We need miracles with a few players and it’s touch and go with a lot of players, who were not available for the final - Darwin, Dom, we have to see what they can do today.
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“Wataru got a proper knock as well, so I wouldn’t say it is much improved. It’s a very bad moment because of so many injuries, but what we can do so far is just ignore who we are missing. That’s why I loved the Luton game. We just ignored it and thought how can we set up a team who is difficult to play.”
Klopp claims promotion-chasing Southampton will be dangerous at Anfield in Liverpool’s 200th FA Cup tie and refuses to see Liverpool as the clear favourites.
Jurgen Klopp is trying to stay positive (PA)“Bringing everyone back down is no problem, you want to take the positive feeling,” he said. "The problem is the lack of recovery. The boys love playing football obviously, they love digging incredibly deep, everyone saw that as well. It’s a strange one, we all know how the world is, it’s Liverpool against Southampton and Liverpool is a massive favourite. That’s not the case.
“We need to find a team that’s competitive and then we will fight for it. We got a good taste of how Wembley feels, we won there, we lost there, it is a nice place anyway. but when you win it’s a completely different place.
“We want to go there, but for that we have to win tomorrow. We have to find out who we can line up. As long as we have 11 players, we will go for it. If anyone wants to push us in that direction, it’s welcome.”
Wataru Endo has added to Liverpool's injury issues (Offside via Getty Images)Klopp will turn to his kids, like Jayden Danns, Bobby Clark and James McConnell, against Southampton and he says they have already proved themselves.
“First and foremost, they don’t have to show anything,” he said. “It’s easily misunderstood. The story of Sunday was one of the best football stories I’ve heard of, and it was 100 per cent right.
“Our boys played in youth teams and the U21s and only came up recently. They had nil experience and they showed it. There is absolutely no pressure, all these boys have to do is enjoy what they are doing.”
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