Sturridge to miss League Cup clash with Stoke

“In pre-season we load our bodies with strength, energy, all we need for the games and then the problems start”, he said, taking an nearly conciliatory tone.

“Our goalkeeper situation is absolutely okay”, he said.

“At this moment I don’t have the time or capacity to think about things for next summer”, said Klopp.

“But I can’t say I’ve been waiting all my life for Liverpool v Manchester United or Liverpool v Arsenal”.

The first of the League Cup semi finals comes from the Britannia Stadium on Tuesday as Stoke City host Liverpool in the first leg of the two leg semi final.

“For us, I would suggest that this is a good time to be playing Liverpool at home because we are looking for a major reaction, and more often than not, on the back of disappointing performances, we bounce back strongly”.

“We had the situation where we kicked off, and West Ham played the first ball very easy into Andy Carroll, as you would expect”.

Coutinho missed three weeks late a year ago with a minor hamstring problem, and Klopp can ill-afford to lose any further players at the start of what could be nine games in a month.

“You’ve seen in previous games that they’re tough to break down so it will be an exciting game”.

Joselu brought a neat save out of Simon Mignolet when his shot from range was deflected, and Walters dragged a shot wide after forcing an opening in the last minute.

Hughes pulled no punches with his beaten players in the wake of Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at West Bromwich Albion – and expects much better against Liverpool with a cup final so tantalisingly close.

It is an area which has been exploited regularly by opponents and one Klopp acknowledges they are weak in.

Charlie says: Everton are not clinical enough up front or defensively for me and it’s costing them.

After so many issues, when Sturridge actually plays again, he’ll (probably) be so anxious about sustaining another injury (and/or his ability to retain fitness), that it’ll affect his game. We know this, we have not solved this. You seem to blow seriously hot and cold and it’s hard for us to guess which Liverpool will turn up at The Brit. “We’ve been clear with the words”, he added.

He has impressed on his players the significance of seeing things through to the end, with Liverpool 8/5 to win the competition.

Creating chances doesn’t appear to be a problem for the Reds as Squawka indicated they’ve crafted 259 scoring opportunities this season, second only to top scorers Manchester City.