‘Difficult thing is’ - Jurgen Klopp makes strong Liverpool squad depth admission amid injury issues

Jurgen Klopp is hopeful that Liverpool can keep the majority of their squad fit in their push for a Premier League top-four finish.

The Reds have been plagued by injuries throughout the season. The majority of Klopp’s squad have spent time on the sidelines at some point, with key players such as Luis Diaz (knee), Diogo Jota (calf), Ibrahima Konate (knee and hamstring) and Virgil van Dijk (hamstring) missing sustained periods.

Liverpool sit just seventh in the table and have a battle if they’re to qualifying for next campaign’s Champions League - starting against Wolves at Anfield on Wednesday night.

The Reds are looking healthier in terms of availability, with Klopp confirming that 26 players were in training last week. The Liverpool boss insisted that his squad is not too small and it has been hampered by fitness issues throughout the campaign.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Klopp said: “For sure, some, the immediate impact from last season - for example Diogo got injured during the international period, came back then was injured again. That’s something then other injuries were affected by long season, short break and short pre-season. Ibou and Virgil were after the World Cup but in general the amount of games. For example, we had bad knee injuries if you want with obviously Luis, which was an impact then Ibou’s first was an impact.

“Of course, it all depends on each other but the most difficult thing is when you have too many injuries, the other players have to play too often and they get injured when the other players to come back - and they need time to be at their best. That’s the situation they are in.

“We didn’t have the full squad together yet on the training pitch but last week without Thiago [Alcantara] and Lucho, there were 26 players on the pitch and goalies not counted.

“The squad is not too small. It’s not like we don’t have players, most of the time we don’t have them together and had six, seven, eight players out. Now we don’t have that amount and it would be massively helpful in this decisive part of the season.”