Jurgen Klopp has admitted he is yet to devise a plan for Mohamed Salah's absence as Liverpool get set to be without their top scorer for potentially more than a month.
Salah is set to start for the Reds when they entertain Newcastle United at Anfield on New Year's Day
Klopp will be without his 16-goal leading marksman for the following weeks while he plays for Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations
Two years ago, Salah captained the Pharaohs to a penalty-shootout defeat to Senegal in the final
A similar stretch in the competition this time out will see the Egyptian miss seven matches across all competitions for Liverpool.
Klopp says it is difficult to put a strategy in place too early in the campaign due to the potential for injuries to players who can temporarily replace Salah
Klopp
"Each long-term plan I could have had depends massively on who is available so why should I think in October who should I use in January when Mo is away when I don’t know who is available?"
"We have solutions today and I hope we have that after Newcastle as well. It is not the first time, it is a really very average situation that you lose your goal scorer but we had it even worse in the past when both Sadio (Mane) and Mo left.
"But we came always through it and traditionally at least one of them went far in the tournament at least, which makes it even worse. We have to get through this.
"We know African Cup of Nations appears and Mo has to go and so we have to deal with it, that was always clear.
"And now we have with Wataru Endo his participation in the Asia Cup as well, so it's like it is. We knew it and now we have to deal with it and we will."
One player whose return has eased the concern over Salah's departure is Diogo Jota
Kommentarer