Jurgen Klopp has cast fresh doubt on when Daniel Sturridge will return for Liverpool after admitting ‘issues’ are disrupting his rehabilitation.
The England striker, who has played just 106 minutes for Klopp, said on Twitter on Boxing Day that he was ‘good to go’ but has still not trained with his team-mates. He instead continues to work with the medical team.
Sturridge damaged his hamstring at Newcastle on December 6 but, given that Klopp wants him to participate in at least seven or eight consecutive training sessions, it seems it will be mid-February at the earliest before he will be available.
Liverpool’s manager was non-committal on when Sturridge — who has been absent for 616 of the 1123 days he has been at Anfield — will play but stressed there is no way the 26-year-old will be in the squad for today’s FA Cup tie against West Ham or Tuesday’s trip to Leicester City.
Klopp said: ‘He is still working. Sometimes it is better, sometimes it is a bit worse because of other issues. He has done a lot of sessions in the last few weeks but it is always interrupted with a few breaks. He needs consistency in the sessions and that’s what we try to do.
‘His injury history means this slow progress is normal. It is not coincidence. Some things are not right if you are injured that often.
‘We’re trying to find a point from which we can train and build up fitness. I don’t know what happens after Leicester to be honest.’
Klopp will select a much-changed team to face West Ham in the FA Cup today, as he did against Exeter in the third round. His reason this time, however, is that the side which played against Stoke on Tuesday ran a combined total of 96 miles to reach the Capital One Cup final and Liverpool now face seven games in 30 days.
‘We can’t ignore the other games,’ said Klopp. ‘If we know about the intensity of the last game and the short break to the next one. I can’t say go again until you lay on the ground. That doesn’t work so there’s no alternative for us.’
However, West Ham boss Slaven Bilic believes fielding kids means you don’t really care about the Cup.
Bilic has already declared he would rather win the competition than finish fourth in the Premier League.
‘If I didn’t believe we could go through, I would put kids in the game,’ said the Croat. ‘OK, we have a really big game against Aston Villa on Tuesday but I really believe that we have a chance to knock out Liverpool. We want it, we are hungry, we have a good team, we are in good form and we have been quite consistent this season.
‘When you get yourself in the rhythm of playing there is no better way to maintain fitness than playing.’ – Daily Mail