‘I said if I wish them good luck it would be a lie’ – Liverpool boss Klopp reacts to Salah, Endo absence
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp insists it “would be a lie” if he wished Mohamed Salah and Wataru Endo luck ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations and Asian Cup.
Both Salah and Endo will be missing as the Reds travel to the Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal in the FA Cup third round after they joined Egypt’s and Japan’s international camps ahead of the tournaments.
If all goes well for both players then Salah and Endo could miss another six matches with the duo set to be away for the double Carabao Cup semi-final header against Fulham and Premier League fixtures against Bournemouth, Chelsea, Arsenal and Burnley.
Speaking about the Liverpool pair ahead of their match against the Gunners, Klopp told reporters: “I said if I wish them good luck it would be a lie. Hopefully they are out in the group stages but it’s not likely possible. Good luck and hopefully they can come back healthy. I am pretty positive we will find a way [to replace them] but we have to show that.
On what Liverpool might change to cope without Salah, Klopp added: “Not a lot. I think we played against West Ham with Harvey there and we have different defensive options. Other players can play on the wing but maybe not like Mo, it’s not possible.
“We use the boys and their skills and that is the idea behind it. Do we want to play without Mo? No. But we will find a way but of course we play Arsenal and we can lose with Mo Salah but at the moment we have a chance to win the game, so we think about that.”
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On Dominik Szoboszlai‘s injury, Klopp continued: “It’s an injury. Muscle, hamstring. We will have to see. Dom is very positive, not a lot of pain but no chance for Sunday. Not for then Wednesday. Then we will see. After that, hopefully, he might be back but we don’t know.”
On possible rotation after a busy festive period, Klopp said: “I think we rotated a lot in the first half of the season, we just did because we thought the boys can do it. It never happens that we don’t care how we play.
“The main reason for the impact from the bench was that, it’s massive, they all have rhythm. We bring in boys who can play to their best and that is what we’ve done.
“I am sure if Arsenal is a game to rotate. I am not sure we have the opportunity to do that. We can line up a good team and I am sure that is what we do. If it looks like rotation I don’t know.
“We have a few days between games, so that is long and there is no need for rotation but then we have [Fulham] and both are same importance, nothing inbetween we want to go to the final but also the next round but it’s probably the most tricky draw you can get.”
