Pep Lijnders, Jürgen Klopp’s assistant manager, led the news conference prior to Liverpool’s Carabao Cup trip to play Bournemouth.
All but one of the players who missed Liverpool’s victory over Nottingham Forest over the weekend will still be out of the lineup. In addition, Curtis Jones has returned from his ban.
The pre-match press conference was left to Pep Lijnders, assistant to Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp, who provided an update on injuries and the most recent information regarding the whereabouts of Luis Díaz’s parents, who were abducted in Colombia.
Lijnders gave a brief update on Díaz’s condition, saying that the team is doing everything in its power to help the winger get through a trying period. He also gave the group credit for how they handled the situation.
Ben Doak has resumed training and might be included in the matchday squad against Bournemouth, but midfield combo Thiago Alcântara and Stefan Bajčetić are still out and injured. Conor Bradley is still out as well.
“We knew that Lucho is an amazing player,” Lijnders stated. “But when you see him in the building, you know that we genuinely care about him because he’s the one who grins all the time. Since many things are beyond our control, we are doing everything we can to support him at this time.
“That is entirely typical. We wish that his father will be located by the authorities. He is one of us, and the team showed him that we support him by putting up the shirt for him in a fantastic response to our goal.”
Injuries have not changed all that much. Lijnders remarked, “Thiago has been missed.” “I really have missed him. Imagine that Thiago is leading our new, much-discussed midfield with him in the midst. It’ll need some time. He will not be accessible. We anticipate having him back shortly. There is no room for Stefan.”
“We see the Ryan of Ajax!” Lijnders made reference to Gravenberch. “For this reason, the cup is crucial. A player will never gain confidence if they miss two weeks of action. Not sure what transpired at Bayern, but I’m not on the pitch. He fully trusts this. With training, we were aware that we had a unique player. Ryan arrives in the box and fires even though he has all the makings of an eight.”
“I said to Harvey [Elliott] a few weeks ago I’d never seen him training so well,” Lijnders continued. “His performance is now consistent. He has the disposition and demeanour to act more like a senior than you may expect. He has an effect.”
What is meant by it?
For Bournemouth, Liverpool will make plenty of changes. But it would be nice if Doak can be involved at some stage after injury, and the number of other players that Lijnders spoke about shows just how much squad depth there is these days at Anfield.