A section of the Liverpool fans were left unpleased after manager Jurgen Klopp confirmed that Dejan Lovren has been excluded from the warm weather training camp in Marbella with a minor injury setback.
The Croatia international has been struggling with a hamstring problem picked up in the FA Cup third round defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers last month and it seems that he has yet to fully recover from the concern.
As such, the Reds find themselves with potentially one recognised central defender in Joel Matip for the Bayern Munich game next week and this has not gone well with a few supporters on Twitter. Here are some of the tweets:
So we only have Matip available at Centre back for the Bayern game at Anfield?— Owen ?⚪️ (@OwenMinnis2001) February 12, 2019
Balls! Really need Fab playing in midfield v Bayern, not at centre half— Alan LFC® (@thehorse04) February 12, 2019
Lovren will be back when we don’t need him…— Look At Jürgen Klopp (@AtKlopp) February 12, 2019
what a fraud— soha (@sirfan93) February 12, 2019
Why can’t we sell Lovren in Summer and bring a good CB, he never fit when we need him, and one thing is sure now he always got injured when Van Djik is not available, wonder why pic.twitter.com/Rqn6tt7mMc— Lamin Bah (@muhalbah) February 12, 2019
Why can’t we sell Lovren in Summer and bring a good CB, he never fit when we need him, and one thing is sure now he always got injured when Van Djik is not available, wonder why pic.twitter.com/Rqn6tt7mMc— Lamin Bah (@muhalbah) February 12, 2019
The Reds are already without Joe Gomez for an extended period after the surgery on a leg fracture and they won’t be able to bank on the services of Virgil van Dijk either next week, given he is due to serve a one-match European suspension after picking up two yellow cards during the group phase of the Champions League.
Should Lovren fail to recover, Klopp should be stuck with just one traditional centre-back in the form of Matip and one of Fabinho or Milner could be tasked with the job of keeping the Bavarian giants at bay from the heart of the backline. The former has been more profound to featuring in the position this term but the Champions League challenge should provide another test of the Brazilian’s credentials.
