World News – USA – Klopp on Fabinhos Fitness, Thiago and Ox Plan and Squad Solutions

Chris Shaw

@__ChrisShaw

Jurgen Klopp will consider when to call Fabinho upon his return to team training prior to the clash with Leicester City, while the manager provided more details on the restores of Thiago Alcantara and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Fabinho has been injured in the Champions League clash with FC Midtjylland on 27. October no longer represented in a game in Anfield.

But the Brazilian international returned to meetings with his teammates at the AXA Training Center this week and is now being monitored for his availability for matches.

Thiago and Oxlade-Chamberlain continue to make strides as the Reds seek to improve their condition for the long-term demands of the season.

During the second part of his press conference outside Leicester, Klopp discussed the approach to managing the return to fitness and was asked if the club could be active due to a number of injuries in the January transfer window.

Whether Thiago had a setback in his recovery or on his time off is a consequence of the injury he sustained …

It is a consequence of the injury. It was a hit, it was a direct kick on his knee. So it’s a consequence of the injury. We have to deal with the consequences of injuries and accidents, fouls, whatever. In this game it was fouls, hard fouls. If he could have played before, he would have played before, but he couldn’t. But he’s out there in the square, he’s running, he’s doing a lot of things, so it won’t be too long. In the beginning, because the pictures looked … on the same day, we got the terrible pictures of Virgil [van Dijk’s injury] and then we were kind of relieved that Thiago was not that serious. But it was always clear that it wouldn’t be in two or three days. For the first few days we thought it would come quickly. But that was not the case and then we have to accept that. So we’re not going to rush it. We’re preparing him for the rest of the season, not the first game he can play again. This is the situation.

The players have to train with the team in the big training units – in team training, as we call it – and not just once. If it’s really serious and we don’t have any other players, maybe one session from time to time should be enough. It doesn’t happen very often, I can’t remember the last time it happened. But usually you don’t just prepare players for a game and that means they have to be a part of it. Fabinho was part of it. We’ll see what we make of it, because I don’t yet know how he reacts and all that stuff. But Fabinho was part of normal team training.

We shall see. I don’t know what we can do in January to be honest. I have no idea. It goes without saying that we are looking for solutions and that we are looking at the transfer market. But right now we have the situation that we have. You can’t really compare situations, but I just want to mention it. When I came to [Borussia] Dortmund in 2008 my two middle halves were 19 and turned 20 this winter, and we played with them the whole time, pretty much – [Mats] Hummels and [Neven] Subotic. We have talent here. You are young, yes, 18, 19, 23. And then we have more experienced players. So we’ll see. Now everyone has the chance. And we don’t have midfielders right now, but hopefully in a few weeks’ time who can also play the more defensive role. These are the solutions that we have and that we are thinking right now. I don’t know what we’ll do in January. If there’s anything we can do, I have no idea. If we want to do something, I have no idea right now. We’ll just see. At the moment we are fine. We use the guys we have as always. And I am really happy. As we talk about injuries all the time, it’s not easy for me to be happy at this press conference, but I’m about the chance you have now. And you should see them in training – they can smell the chance and they step on and they want to show that they are ready. It’s good. And we will see. I’m very confident that it will work out with the guys and then hopefully we can convince the rest of the world as well.

Fabinho, Thiago Alcântara, Jordan Henderson, Jürgen Klopp, Liverpool F. . C.. . , Trent Alexander-Arnold, City of Leicester F. . C.. . , Premier League