Jurgen Klopp today confirmed that Liverpool’s captain Jordan Henderson will miss this Sunday’s Premier League trip to Fulham.
The Reds’ midfielder went off after just 11 minutes against Bayern Munich on Wednesday night. Henderson had twisted his ankle but tried to continue. However, even after some bandaging, he could not run off the injury.
Speaking today at his pre-game press conference, Klopp said:
“With Hendo, we made further assessment and we know now that it’s serious enough probably to rule him out for the weekend and the international break will be long enough hopefully to bring him back. It’s a little one with the ankle, how it looked in the first place. It was the best scan we could get, I would say, but still not good enough. It’s not good but OK.”
The Liverpool boss also mentioned that Naby Keita will face some more fitness tests before a decision is made regarding the Fulham game. Keita didn’t travel to Munich during the week due to a slight injury.
“Naby, we have to see if he can train today. The boys come in a bit later today. [He had] a couple of checks – it was positive until now but we have to see if it stays positive when he goes outside.”
Regarding Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, the news remains positive. When the players return at the end of March after the international break, Klopp expects The Ox to be 100% fit. Sure, it will take a lot of game time for him to get any sort of match fitness back but he’s getting closer every day.
“Oxlade, I heard nothing new about it so there’s no rush now. Of course not for the weekend anyway, but in general after international break, he will be 100 per cent fit.”
Of course, the big news on Friday morning was the Champions League draw which pitted Liverpool against FC Porto with the winners facing either Barcelona or Manchester United in the semi-final.
For now, though, the focus must turn back to domestic duties as Liverpool look to go back to the top of the Premier League with a win over Fulham at Craven Cottage.
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I would never wish injury on any player even if an opponent but as things go Mr. Klopp has to have his hand forced to sit an underperforming uninspiring player who brings very little to the team.
Challenge me with this. He has no earthly right to start every week when fit. Especially before Fabulous Fabinho, Gini, Milner, those three basically are his position on field. Lallana and Naby are our creative sources at present and he should be nowhere near that part of the midfield.
Truthfully he is best as the work horse and there are two or three players currently at the club whom are better in that role. His leadership lacks because of his lack of productivity on field. He points and shouts but does little more than that. Seriously I hate to say this but managers who think like Mr. Klopp on these matters generally fail at winning titles. The ruthless Manet gets who don’t shield underperforming players stars captains (none of them is he) or otherwise win titles. Face it he is a liability in midfield and results tell the tale. He is a squad player at best but will constantly play because of his captaincy badge. That’s been part of the reason why Man U were so successful under Ferguson he was ruthless in his quest to be the best team not just English league but the world. Ok and yes I mentioned him and them cause they’ve did it best (as an English team) since us and certainly in the premier era.