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Jurgen Klopp says the expectations around Liverpool make it impossible to make excuses about a list of crippling injuries.
The Reds beat Ajax 1-0 on Tuesday night in the Champions League to secure their place in the knockout stages despite playing without up to nine first-team stars.
With Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez recovering from their respective knee surgeries, Klopp was also in action without Thiago Alcantara, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, James Milner, Xherdan Shaqiri and Alisson Becker.
Naby Keita and Trent Alexander-Arnold also missed out midweek, but could return when the champions host the Wolves on Sunday night.
Despite the huge absentee list, Klopp says Liverpool’s status and the demands placed on them mean they can’t use that as a reason for sub-par performances.
“I said it, whoever is available, we are still Liverpool,” Klopp said. “We are Liverpool, that’s how we see it.
“We still want to win the game and I think most people think we have to win the game.
“You can see that when you speak before or after the game, people don’t say ‘oh, he’s not available, he’s not available.’
“Nobody really lets you use that situation as an excuse and we don’t. We don’t.
“The situation is hard, one hundred percent, but we are in the ninth or tenth day and it seems quite long, but it is not even a third of the season.”
“So who cares where at the moment [we are]? We tried to play football, we won some games, we drew in others, we lost one, massively, and that’s the job. “
Liverpool’s succession of muscle injuries has been a key reason behind Klopp’s insistence that teams should be able to use five substitutes during a condensed campaign.
And as other European uncommitted teams prepare for a hectic holiday schedule, Klopp believes they will begin to see why he and managers like Frank Lampard and Pep Guardiola have continued to push for five substitutes per game.
The Liverpool manager added: “I said it before, this is not a season where you throw a goal at the beginning of the season on the table and say ‘we have to be here or there.’
“Everybody tries to get ahead and some teams are luckier with injuries than others and that’s the situation.
“I’m pretty sure it will even out throughout the season because it is incredibly intense.
“Soccer, now begins the most intense period for all teams. It is enormously intense for teams involved in European football now.
“From now on we play every three days and some teams will realize now how difficult it is and that is why we still have to talk about the five substitutes even though we did not vote yesterday.”
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