- Likes of Pogba, Jota, Werner all ruled out of World Cup
- Son, Lukaku, Varane among those doubtful
- Klopp criticises media for 'allowing' tournament to happen
WHAT HAPPENED? Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Klopp was asked by GOAL about the pressures facing managers and players, who know that an injury at this stage would likely deny them the chance of representing their country at the biggest tournament in football. The likes of Paul Pogba, N'Golo Kante, Timo Werner and Diogo Jota have already been ruled out through injury, while others such as Son Heung-min, Romelu Lukaku, Raphael Varane, Ben Chilwell and Reece James are facing a race against time to be fit.
WHAT THEY SAID: Klopp said: "I hate this subject! These problems were so clear, they were so clear, and nobody mentioned it one time until three or four weeks before the World Cup. And now all of a sudden players get injured and you say ‘he cannot play the World Cup, wow!’.
"This situation, players getting injured late in the season and missing the World Cup, is not new. After a long season it happens everywhere in the world. But now starting the World Cup a week after the last game, that is a bigger risk. Crazy.
"Nobody cares about us and how we deal with it. You ask me the question now. What do you think I should do? Should I ask the players before Southampton or Derby, ‘do you really want to play?’ We are all guilty, and you more than I am, for letting it happen in the first place. And now it happens and that is it, we have to go along with it and the players who get injured and cannot play it is a disaster, but how can we change that?"
THE BIGGER PICTURE: There are two rounds of Premier League games left to play before the World Cup gets underway, as well as a set of midweek fixtures in the Carabao Cup. The opening World Cup game, between Qatar on Ecuador, takes place on November 20.
IN THREE PHOTOS:
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GettyWHAT NEXT FOR LIVERPOOL? The Reds travel to Tottenham in the Premier League on Sunday before hosting Derby in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday. They sign off before the World Cup with a home game against Southampton a week on Saturday (November 12).