Liverpool’s injury problems haven’t actually worsened, thankfully, despite Alberto Moreno limping off late on against AS Roma in last night’s pre-season friendly – the final of the American Tour.
The Spaniard is the only natural senior left-back in the first-team squad, but according to Jurgen Klopp – it was just a dead leg and not a real injury that saw him withdrawn.
“Alberto has a dead leg in his hamstring – that’s all it is,” Klopp told the Echo.
James Milner played the first-half at left-back, demonstrating that he may well be used as a utility fullback during this coming campaign. It’s unsure whether Klopp will use the final month of the transfer window to sign another, with Brad Smith sold and Jon Flanagan closing on a move to Burnley as well…
Most fans would say a left-back is a necessity, even with the Milner option, and we’d be inclined to agree.
Injuries have been a real curse of our summer, in truth. Joel Matip has missed fixtures with an ankle problem, Mamadou Sakho and Joe Gomez will miss the start of the season with achilles injuries, Divock Origi sat out last night with a groin problem and Marko Grujic suffered a nasty concussion verses Chelsea.
The boss wasn’t entirely happy with the performance, especially defensively – with Roma winning 2-1 after one serious blunder at the back from Simon Mignolet and his backline.
“It wasn’t our best game but that can happen when you aren’t compact like in the first half. There were big spaces between the positions,” Klopp continued.
“Nearly every attacking situation was a chance. It made no sense.
“We had a lot of good chances too. It could have been 6-5 at half-time. It was exciting for the supporters but not what I wanted.
“I can accept it because I know why. We’ve had 13 days in the USA and the hardest circumstances tonight.
“A lot of intensive sessions and then playing in that heat. We’ve had a lot of games in the last few weeks and our opponent has had no games for two weeks so it was hard.
“Of course we have to do better. It was easy to see what was wrong so it’s easy to change it.”