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Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that Fabinho will miss Liverpool’s Premier League clash with Leicester, meaning that one or both of Ben Davies and Ozan Kabak could start for the first time this weekend.
Injuries to Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip left Liverpool desperately without defensive options midway through the campaign and the champions signed Davies of Preston and Kabak of Schalke in permanent and temporary deals respectively on the day of the match. transfer deadline.
Both Jordan Henderson and Fabinho have fallen back from midfield to take over amid Liverpool’s crisis at rear this season, but the latter has struggled with injuries in recent weeks, missing Liverpool’s games with Tottenham. , West Ham and Brighton.
The Brazilian returned to play the full 90 minutes of the Reds 4-1 at home to Manchester City last weekend but has had another setback and will be absent at King Power Stadium on Saturday due to a ‘minor muscle problem ‘.
When asked if the two Liverpool arrivals in January could be seen in the background against Leicester star Jamie Vardy, Klopp said: ‘Jamie is obviously a suitable challenge in this league with the way he plays, the way his colleagues prepare it and so that’s a good job to do.
But you can only always do it with the whole team. This is how we always try to do it, you have to avoid passes.
“Jamie is a world-class player, sure, in a specific area of the field and with his speed, that’s really tough.
“With the guys we have some sessions together where we could really work on this defensive setup and that’s very important, but on top of that, we have other players available. Nat Phillips did very well together with Hendo, along with Fab.
‘Fab will not be available. He is suffering again with a small muscle problem, so he will be out of the game, so we have to find a solution.
“All of them had the opportunity to train this week to show who is ready and that’s why I have to make a decision tomorrow.”
When asked if Fabinho could come back against Leipzig or Everton, Klopp replied: ‘I don’t know at the moment, we’ll see. I really do not know ‘.
The Liverpool head coach has been without Naby Keita (hamstring) and Diogo Jota (knee) since mid-December, but the duo appear to be making significant headway in recovery.
Pressed for an update on Keita’s fitness, Klopp replied: ‘It was a hamstring, a bit bigger so he’s back on the field but not with the team yet.
“So he’s in individual sessions, hard training sessions, so these are the final stages of his rehab, but we’re not there yet.”
On Jota’s progress, the German explained: ‘Diogo is close but not as close as Naby, for example.
But it’s also on the field, individual sessions, not with the same intensity, so you can imagine that after a longer time in rehab you have to train very hard before you can go back to team training.
“So Diogo … two or three weeks, maybe.” But probably the medical department hits me now, but I think that’s possible, back in full training and then we’ll see how long it takes. ‘
Alisson produced a horror show when City raged at Anfield and Klopp revealed that he had a ‘little chat’ with the Liverpool goalkeeper to help ease the disappointment of his costly mistakes.
“Oh, we did, of course, have a little talk,” Klopp said.
If it’s breath or whatever, I don’t know. It’s just a little talk and he wasn’t happy it happened, of course.
But it’s very important to realize that at a time like this, long-career goalkeepers make mistakes.
“For a goalkeeper of the quality of Alisson Becker, it is quite rare that he makes these kinds of mistakes and that he makes two of them in one game, that’s clear too.
But besides that, goalkeepers are used to making mistakes. It means they have to stay in the game, they concede a goal and they know that maybe before the rest of the world, “I should have saved him!”
‘They have to deal with it all the time and he has only a few days between the City game and this game.
“There was absolutely no real criticism from us, from the guys, from the players around him because everyone knows how good he is. He is a very calm person.
“And now the next game is coming and that’s good for him to get back to playing his normal level and then everything will be fine.”
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