0
0
Jurgen Klopp, the head coach of Liverpool, has confirmed that midfielder Ryan Gravenberch appeared to suffer a hamstring injury in the Reds’ 0-0 draw with Manchester United on Sunday.
The former Bayern Munich player applauded the crowd as he hobbled off the field in the 61st minute of the match at Anfield, being replaced by Cody Gakpo.
The long-term absences of Stefan Bajcetic (calf) and Thiago Alcantara (hip) have already depleted Liverpool’s midfield ranks, while Alexis Mac Allister is also recovering from a knee injury.
In his post-game press conference, Klopp revealed that Ryan Gravenberch had injured his hamstring in the draw with Manchester United, and he is not optimistic about the Dutchman’s chances of being fit for the holiday season.
“We’ll see. They told me right after the game that it got worse during the game, so it wasn’t ‘bam’. “He felt a little bit and didn’t show right away,” Klopp explained.
“We hoped it would pass, but it did not.” There was this really intense sprint with the ball that ended with a collision on the 18-yard line.
“I hope it’s not too serious, but we have three more games in the next ten days, and I’m not sure if he’ll be in them or one of them.” We’ll see; we’ll need to scan.”
With Gravenberch, Thiago, Bajcetic, and Mac Allister all on the mend, Liverpool’s senior midfield options have been reduced to Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru Endo, Curtis Jones, and Harvey Elliott in the midst of the punishing winter schedule.
Szoboszlai was hauled off the field with Gravenberch shortly after the hour mark on Sunday after an underwhelming performance in which the Hungarian lost possession 15 times and failed to deliver one accurate cross in five attempts.
Ryan Gravenberch | Player’s Stat at the club
The departures of Szoboszlai and Gravenberch prompted Klopp to make a system change, bringing on Joe Gomez to play right back while Trent Alexander-Arnold was moved to a deep-lying midfield position.
When asked why he sacrificed Szoboszlai so early in the game, Klopp insisted that the 23-year-old was still “exceptional” throughout, adding: “Might have had two or three games ago where there was a slight development from the first impression he made obviously.” It was always obvious that things would not go as planned – he is still a very young boy.
“However, he was outstanding today in a variety of game situations.” But then we lost a couple of balls, which had nothing to do with the substitution or anything; it’s just that you have options, and we wanted to change systems, so you have to think about it.
“We wanted to have Joey then higher, put him proper on the wing – same for Kosti – so you need players in these half-spaces and it was then Cody right, Lucho left and Mo putting in the centre, and then we changed again with Harvey on 10.”
The German was also asked about the developing Premier League title race after his team lost points at home for the first time this season, but he stated that he couldn’t care less about the title race at this point in the season.
Liverpool’s failure to defeat Manchester United leaves the Reds second in the table, one point behind Arsenal ahead of next weekend’s pivotal Anfield clash with the Gunners, before Klopp’s side face West Ham United in the EFL Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday.
