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Fabinho out for Liverpool but Klopp given midfield boost for Merseyside derby

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp will be without Fabinho for Saturday's Merseyside derby at Anfield...



Fabinho out for Liverpool but...
Soccer

Fabinho out for Liverpool but Klopp given midfield boost for Merseyside derby

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp will be without Fabinho for Saturday's Merseyside derby at Anfield. 

The midfielder turned makeshift centre-back has missed the Reds' last two games with a muscle injury.

Klopp revealed in his Friday press conference that Fabinho is yet to take a full part in training, and as such he won't be risked against Everton.

"Fab was not in training," Klopp said, "All the others not as well. Nothing new.

“They all get closer – Fab gets closer, Millie [James Milner] gets closer and Diogo [Jota] gets closer, but not close enough for the weekend."

However, the manager has been boosted by the return to fitness of Naby Keita.

The Guinea international midfielder hasn't featured since the 7-0 thrashing of Crystal Palace six-days before Christmas.

Klopp says it was a case of making sure the injury-prone Keita was 100 per cent before plunging him back into first-team action.

"Naby could have been in the squad against Leipzig," the manager revealed, "But it didn’t make sense because he’d only trained two days with the team.

"So, we said stay at home, train two days of proper training sessions, but unfortunately Naby got ill a little bit and couldn’t train these two days.

“Yesterday we reintegrated him again. I just don’t know, but we don't hold him back or whatever. Of course, after the injuries he had, we don’t want to force him in or something like that, but it would be nice to have him.

"Is he able to play a few minutes on Saturday? I don’t know. If he’s not, if we speak about it and it’s better to rather not play a few minutes then it is better to stay away from the team and just train proper, proper.

“Being around, on the bench, are not the most intense things and he needs to get used to the intensity again.

"No decision made yet, but he is not injured anymore and now we have to figure out how fit he is to play how many minutes."

Alisson, I know this world is killing you

Meanwhile, Klopp says his first-choice goalkeeper Alisson is not suffering from a crisis of confidence.

The Brazilian was in the spotlight for some uncharacteristic errors that led to recent defeats to Leicester City and Manchester City.

But Klopp says it has never entered into his thinking to drop his expensive shot-stopper.

"We are all human beings, Ali as well, and he showed that in the last two [Premier League] games so that’s how it is," the German said.

“It’s not a problem and of course it’s work but most of the work you have to do with yourself and he is doing that, definitely. It’s not about telling him, ‘Come on Ali, you are a world-class goalie’ - he knows that, but he doesn’t get up in the morning and look in the mirror and think, ‘What I see is a world-class goalie.’

“So if you made a mistake in the game before, in the previous games if you want, then it’s nothing you like. Humans are all the same and Ali is too smart to ignore it completely.

"Other personalities maybe would not struggle, that’s completely normal.

“But, in the end, we can rely - and he can rely as well - on his quality, on his attitude, on how focused he is in a game, how much he gives in a game and all these kind of things.

“No, I was not one second in doubt. Ali, for sure, had not the best time between the two games [against Leicester and Manchester City], that’s how it is. But the Leipzig game was a really good one to get back and there we are now.”

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DIOGO JOTA Everton Fabinho Jurgen Klopp Liverpool Naby Keita