12 Feb 2016

Klopp Confirms: 'Outstanding' £40m Liverpool duo will miss Villa; 'Brilliant' Academy sensation injured

After the disappointment of being dumped out of the FA Cup, it's back to Premier League action for Liverpool, and when it comes to the injury situation, it's another case of one step forward, two steps back for LFC.

In his pre-match press conference today, Klopp confirmed that:

* 'Brilliant' Brad Smith is injured and will not feature against Villa.

* Dejan Lovren, and Joe Allen^ - both hailed as 'outstanding' by Brendan Rodgers) - are also definitely out of the game.

He explained:

“Joe [Allen] is unfortunately is out for a while. [Lovren] won’t be fit for Aston Villa but hopefully for the next game. It’s not a big thing, it’s more about a strange feeling in the muscle".

Martin Skrtel also remains on the sidelines, but there is one piece of good news:

"Yesterday he [Steven Caulker] trained normally, so he is available".

It'll be interesting to see how Liverpool respond to the last-gasp FA Cup defeat.

The manner of the defeat reminds me of the Reds' 2-1 FA Cup fourth round loss to Man United during the 1998-99 season.

As with West Ham, United scored in the dying throes of the match, and that game basically killed Liverpool's season. After that, the Reds failed to win 11 of their remaining 16 league games (7 defeats/4 draws), and ended the season on 57 points.

The team just couldn’t recover from the disappointment, and this was obvious in the sluggish, disinterested performances that followed. It may have only been an FA Cup game, but to lose like that after giving everything was too much for the players, who clearly didn’t have the mental strength to bounce back.

The difference between then and now is that prior to the Man United game, Houllier's team had won five of their previous six games. The team was on a roll, which is stark contrast to Liverpool's run of just one win in five games prior to the West Ham defeat.

Here's hoping history doesn't repeat itself (!)

The noise inside the stadium is just incredible...

^ Allen: £20m-rated. Lovren: Cost £20m.

Author: Jaimie K


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