Jürgen Klopp explains team selection v Spurs
Jürgen Klopp’s decision to recall Virgil van Dijk to Liverpool’s starting line-up is due to the boss’ eagerness to use all of his centre-backs.
Van Dijk was named on the bench for last Tuesday’s 3-0 victory over Huddersfield Town, but the No.4 returns to the Reds’ XI for this afternoon’s clash with Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield.
Dejan Lovren retains his place from that win at the John Smith’s Stadium, with Joel Matip named among the substitutes.
Lovren’s last game against Spurs was, of course, ended prematurely when he was brought off during the first half of a chastening 4-1 defeat at Wembley in October.
However, Klopp insisted that experience had no bearing on the Croatian’s inclusion today.
“No, that’s too long ago. I don’t know, when you have an average day I hope you don’t remind yourself of it,” he said.
“It was really long ago. It was not because of Tottenham it was just because we played bad as a team and Dejan was not in a good moment. I can’t even remember it properly so it was not important, it was not the case that I thought about it.
“I think we have four centre-halves and now they work together. We had a whole week when they could work together. Raggy is still injured so we had only three, and Joe Gomez is injured so that means we only have these three. We have to use them now and that’s what we did.”