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Midfielder Ryan Gravenberch seemed to suffer a hamstring injury during Sunday’s 0-0 draw between Liverpool and Manchester United, according to head coach Jurgen Klopp.
In the 61st minute of the match at Anfield, the former Bayern Munich player hobbled off the pitch with a physiotherapist while applauding the supporters before Cody Gakpo took his place.
The long-term injuries to Thiago Alcantara (hip) and Stefan Bajcetic (calf) have already reduced the depth of Liverpool’s midfield, and Alexis Mac Allister is still recovering from a knee ailment.
During his post-match press conference, Klopp told reporters that Gravenberch had strained his hamstring during the draw with the Red Devils and that he does not think the Dutchman will be ready for the holiday season.
“We’ll see. That means it wasn’t ‘bam’ because they told me right after the game that it became worse during the game. Klopp stated, “He felt a little bit and didn’t show immediately.”
“We had thought it would pass, but it didn’t. There was a very fierce run with the ball that resulted in a collision at the 18-yard line.
“Hopefully it’s nothing major, but we have three more games in the next ten days, and I’m not sure if he’ll play in all of them or just one of them. We need to perform a scan, so we’ll see.”
As a result of the injuries to Mac Allister, Thiago, Gravenberch, and Bajcetic, Liverpool’s senior midfield alternatives during the demanding winter schedule are Wataru Endo, Curtis Jones, and Harvey Elliott.
After a lacklustre performance in which he gave up the ball 15 times and missed five clear crosses, Szoboszlai was taken off the field with Gravenberch just after the hour mark on Sunday.
Due to the absence of Szoboszlai and Gravenberch, Klopp also changed his lineup, inserting Joe Gomez in at right-back and moving Trent Alexander-Arnold to a deep-lying midfielder position.
The 23-year-old was nonetheless “exceptional” throughout the match, according to Klopp, who gave his explanation for making the early sacrifice. He also added: “Maybe two or three games ago there was a slight development from the first impression he made obviously.”
Since he is still a very young boy, it has always been obvious that things will not proceed as planned.
“However, he excelled in several of the game’s scenarios today. However, after changing the system, we lost a few balls, which had nothing to do with the substitution or anything else. You have to exercise your judgement.
“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.”
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After his team lost points at home for the first time this season, the German was questioned about the evolving Premier League title fight. However, he confirmed that, at this early stage of the new season, he could not give a damn about the struggle for glory.
Due to their inability to defeat Man United, Liverpool now sits one point behind Arsenal in the standings ahead of their crucial match at Anfield this coming weekend. Klopp’s team will first take on West Ham United on Wednesday in the EFL Cup quarterfinal.
