The availability of Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool team for tomorrow’s match against Burnley has been updated.
The Reds have seen a couple of injury setbacks in recent days, as Dominik Szoboszlai and Thiago Alcantara are currently out.
However, there has been a boost, with Wataru Endo returning from international duty with Japan. And asked during his pre-match press conference this afternoon if Endo would be ready to play, Klopp confirmed that that is the case.
“Endo is available, that’s good,” said the manager, before saying that the opposite is true of Thiago. “Besides that we have a few problems. Thiago is not cool. Everything looked fantastic in training, we showed quite a lot of things on LFCTV, you could see them, it looks outstanding.
“Let him play a few minutes and then… it’s a muscle issue. We don’t know the extent yet, we have to wait but it’s not cool and really not good news for him, for us and for everyone.
“Yes [he will play again this season], but we didn’t really think about that in the moment. We just want to get a full assessment done and knowing exactly where it came from. Normal procedure, that’s how it is. It’s not a big, big injury definitely not. But obviously something nobody needed.”
Endo back, but problems elsewhere
Klopp has given us a really inconsistent update. Naturally, Endo’s return to the race is fantastic news, but Thiago’s situation is incredibly disheartening.
The one thing that went well for Liverpool during their weekend trip to Arsenal was his comeback. It is a body blow that it has now been taken away from them.Endo’s return, though, will relieve some of the strain on Klopp’s midfield choice. With Szoboszlai out, the boss has to think of something a little bit different.
Picking Ryan Gravenberch at Arsenal didn’t quite work out, so Endo will probably be put back in right away tomorrow.
Even though Burnley is the obvious second favorite at Anfield on Saturday, they are a team who can play good football when given the opportunity.
It might be necessary for Liverpool to acquire Stuttgart for £16 million in order to prevent them from having the chance to do that.
Endo was a defensive midfielder who was thriving in every aspect of his game before he traveled for the Asian Cup. I’m hoping he can pick up right where he left off.
With the 31-year-old on board, Alexis Mac Allister ought to fulfill the more senior role he was contracted for. Liverpool will be pleased to hear that.
In terms of availability, it appears as though the Reds are out of luck right now. However, it’s always fantastic to see players return, and it will be terrific to have Endo back in action.
