2 years ago
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Photo by Jacques Feeney/Offside/Offside via Getty Images
Liverpool had several surprise absences from the line up against Crystal Palace to go along with some longer term injuries.
Liverpool entered the match day with Crystal Palace with what was expected to be a fairly thin squad due to a gaggle of injuries. The likes of Diogo Jota, Curtis Jones, and Ibrahima Konaté have been out since prior to the Fulham match. Thiago and Joel Matip were injured during the clash with the Cottagers, with Thiago expected to be out for up to a month and a half.
Still, it seemed like Liverpool had enough quality depth to handle it. That was until the line up was announced. Joe Gomez, who was expected to start in place of Matip, was only on the bench, joined by captain Jordan Henderson. Naby Keïta, returning from an illness, was also on the bench, and Roberto Firmino was nowhere to be found, leaving many a Liverpool fan to scratch their head in confusion.
After Liverpool’s frustrating 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace, manager Jürgen Klopp clarified the situation. He started out with giving an updated timetable for Joel Matip.
“[Joel] will be two weeks. We will see with that.”
He then described a week to forget, with player after player having issues that either kept them fully out or unable to play more than a portion of the match.
“The week was crazy; I have experienced a lot of weeks but that was like we had a witch in the building. Honestly, like every day somebody else pulled out [of training] for the craziest reasons.
“In the end, Joey didn’t start. Nat [Phillips] did really well, I have to say, but Joey didn’t start because he only trained yesterday again. At the start of the week, [he had] a little issue.
“Bobby couldn’t make it. Hendo this morning, we got the information there was a little concern about something if he plays too long, so he didn’t play that long.”
“That’s the situation. It was not too cool, but then the game we made of it I really liked it - I really liked the game. That’s how it is. We want to fight and I saw that a lot, and we played really good stuff. So, a lot of good performances and I liked it, but that’s it now. We drew, let’s carry on.”
The good news is it sounds like several of the players, including Joe Gomez and Jordan Henderson who came on in the second half, will likely be able to fully train ahead of next week’s clash with bottom-of-the-table Manchester United. Hopefully no one else will pull up lame over the next several days.
