- Jurgen Klopp could not give an exact time frame for Diogo Jota’s recovery
- He stated, rather unusually, that it was “a lot of fun” to find solutions to problems.
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Jurgen Klopp has confirmed Liverpool fans’ worst nightmares by confirming that Diogo Jota will be injured for “months” but could not say exactly how long.
Jota’s absence will affect Liverpool during the Premier League title race and their quest to win four trophies.
The Portuguese striker was forced off in the first half of Liverpool’s 4-1 win at Brentford over the weekend, as was Curtis Jones.
Klopp was speaking ahead of Liverpool’s game against Luton on Wednesday and the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea on Sunday.
He said: ‘With Diogo it will take a few months (not weeks). He couldn’t say a deadline even if he wanted to. That’s how it is. When you don’t have these players it doesn’t make sense.
Jurgen Klopp claims Diogo Jota will be sidelined for “months” after knock against Brentford
Jota was in some discomfort after Brentford’s Christian Norgaard fell on his knee and had to go off at the weekend.
Curtis Jones was forced off early in the match in London with an apparent ankle injury.
On Liverpool’s injury catalogue, he added: “It’s not great, I’d like to say there are no problems, but we have a few.”
‘Not available: Alisson, muscle injury, not sure for how long; Diogo, due to a knee problem, ruled out; Curtis, bone/ligament issue, ruled out; Others, we think we will take it day by day. Muscle problems, we’ll see.
“If you look at the lineup early enough, you’ll see who made it and who didn’t. That’s it. Trent (Alexander-Arnold) and Dom (Dominik Szoboszlai) are back and they’re not training as a team yet, so they’re not there yet. available. That is the situation. What I said after the game, if we have 11, we will do it and that is the idea.
‘If you use the boys, you know what you can do. We don’t see it that way (with the injuries): when we had the two left backs out, we found a solution that worked.
“We didn’t have a No. 6 before the season started, but we figured it out.” “As long as we have a training session (before the games) it’s good because everyone is good with the ball.”
Klopp even went so far as to say that finding solutions to an injury crisis was a nice thing to do – an unorthodox view of his situation at a critical moment.
He said: ‘Yes, we had to be flexible but, to be honest, it was (more) fun than a problem. Now we have a situation where it would be better if we didn’t have injuries, but the moment you have the news, you just deal with it and we have no excuse.
‘Let’s go for it. There are 5,000 ways to win a game. We just have to find one. “Especially at home, where we generate a dynamic where some players can grow above themselves and be the best version of themselves.”
Trent Alexander-Arnold is ‘back’ but has not yet returned to first team training
Klopp said he was “unsure” how long his team would be without first-choice goalkeeper Alisson.
Dominik Szoboszlai has also not returned to first team training after his hamstring injury
Despite Klopp’s optimistic spirit, Jota’s absence will surely be keenly felt at Liverpool.
He returned from a muscle injury in December in great form and has scored 14 goals in all competitions this season with great finishing.
Mail Sport predicted how Liverpool could line up this weekend against Chelsea on Sunday with their squad very depleted.