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Jurgen Klopp confirms Liverpool's Mohamed Salah back in contention, slams criticism over Trent Alexander-Arnold injury
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Published 16/02/2024 at 19:39 GMT
Jurgen Klopp has given updates on a number of key players ahead of Liverpool's game against Brentford, live on TNT Sports. The Reds boss confirmed Trent Alexander-Arnold would miss the Premier League game and would not return in time for the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea next weekend, but said Mohamed Salah was back in full training and in contention to feature at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Salah heading in the ‘right direction’ on return to fitness for Liverpool, says Klopp
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Jurgen Klopp insists he didn’t rush Trent Alexander-Arnold back from injury after the defender suffered a setback during Liverpool’s 3-1 win over Burnley last Saturday.
Alexander-Arnold has struggled with a knee issue of late and returned to action after three weeks out against Vincent Kompany’s Premier League strugglers.
But he didn’t re-emerge for the second half at Anfield, with Klopp confirming the Reds will be without the defender for the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea on February 25.
“I wasn't really aware of it but I caught some of the news, there was a discussion we might have forced Trent back,” Klopp told a press conference on Friday.
“He has had setbacks and nobody wants that. As long as I've been here we’ve never forced anyone back. But we work in a high-performance area. We always try to catch them at the earliest moment, unfortunately, when we catch that early nobody speaks about that.
“The last decision is always by the player. When the boys played they were fit, but the situation told us differently, as it happened again. Very, very unlucky and unfortunate.”
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Honigstein feels Alonso will be ‘very tempted’ to replace Klopp at Liverpool
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The German, who is set to leave Anfield at the end of the season, also said Dominik Szoboszlai and Thiago Alcantara remain sidelined but added that there was better news regarding the fitness of Mohamed Salah and other members of the squad.
“Mo is back in full training,” Klopp continued. “That brings him automatically into contention. Ibou [Konate] is not suspended any more, Joe [Gomez] is fit again, Conor [Bradley] is back, Ali [Becker] is back, so that's all positive.”
Up next for league leaders Liverpool is an away game against Thomas Frank’s Brentford, live on TNT Sports.
Ahead of the clash, Klopp spoke of the challenge awaiting his side at the Gtech Community Stadium.
“It is super tricky there, the way they play and set it up,” Klopp added. “With or without [Ivan] Toney makes a difference.
“All the guys back from AFCON makes a difference. [Neal] Maupay makes a difference. Well organised, set-pieces, rhythm breaks, and they want set-pieces. That's how it is.
“But they are more than just set-pieces. They are well coached and the atmosphere the stadium creates is really good.
“We have to be the team where they think in a similar way about us. That's exactly the way we have to approach it.
“I have been pleased especially with the resilience we have showed recently. Arsenal a dip, but the tenacity we showed against Burnley dealing with a difficult situation within the squad, I really liked it. We have to be at our best to beat Brentford.”
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